decarburization

Decarburization is the process of removing carbon from a material, typically steel. This is a crucial step in steelmaking, where controlling carbon content is essential for achieving desired properties.123

In steel production, decarburization can be achieved through vacuum treatment. By exposing liquid steel to vacuum conditions, dissolved gases like hydrogen and nitrogen are reduced. More importantly, vacuum conditions promote the reaction between carbon and oxygen, forming carbon monoxide. This reaction effectively lowers the carbon and oxygen levels in the steel.4

For instance, under vacuum, steel with 0.043% carbon and 0.058% oxygen can be reduced to 0.014% carbon and 0.018% oxygen. This process is vital for producing ultralow-carbon steels, which can contain less than 0.003% carbon. Specialized methods like vacuum oxygen decarburization (VOD) are used, especially for high-alloy steels, to remove carbon without excessively oxidizing other elements like chromium.4