Abstract

Non-metallic inclusions play a key role in many important properties of steel, affecting the processing and application of steel products. The production of steel wire requires high purity of steel, since non-metallic inclusions can negatively affect its quality: cause defects, reduce plasticity and reduce the durability of the product. Control of non-metallic inclusions is an important stage in the production of high-quality steel wire. For rod made of alloyed, in particular silicon-manganese steels of the G3Si1 type, the regulatory documentation does not specify the maximum number of non-metallic inclusions that can be in the steel without affecting the technical characteristics. Therefore, the purpose of the study was to determine the number of non-metallic inclusions for steel for welding purposes and their effect on the technical characteristics of the wire. A comparative study of the quality of two batches of silicon-manganese steel G3Si1, which is processed into wire by cold drawing from a diameter of 5.5 mm to 2.0 mm and 0.8 mm, was carried out. The main difficulties in the production of small-diameter wire are associated with increasing the strength and brittleness of the metal during the drawing process in production. The structure of the studied G3Si1 wire rod with a diameter of 5.5 mm consisted of ferrite, pearlite and bainite-martensitic areas. Before drawing to a small (1.2…0.8 mm) diameter, the silicon-manganese steel is subjected to heat treatment - annealing, which reduces the strength due to the passage of spheroidization processes. As a result, the structure of the experimental steel consists of ferrite and granular pearlite. Both batches of wire from G3Si1 steel, produced without breaks and with breaks, have the same granular ferrite-pearlite structure and similar properties. A slight increase in the strength of the wire may be due to a higher manganese content within the regulatory values. Studies have shown that for G3Si1 steel, the presence of an excess of non-metallic inclusions by 0.5…0.8 index units in the initial rod with a diameter of 5.5 mm leads to breaks during further drawing into wire. As a result of deformation, the number of linear non-metallic inclusions in small-diameter wire increases significantly. Therefore, control of inclusions in low-carbon G3Si1 steel is necessary to ensure continuous production.

Keywords

low-carbon steel, non-metallic inclusions, breakability, mechanical properties, structure.

References

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9. Рукопис надійшов до редакції / Received  06.11.2025 Рекомендовано до друку / Accepted  28.05.2026 Опубліковано / Published  30.05.2026