| Abstract Scope |
To achieve carbon neutrality, the steel industry faces an urgent challenge of decarbonization, as CO2 emissions from blast furnace–based steelmaking account for 30–40% of total industrial emissions. Although hydrogen-based direct reduction is proposed as an ultimate solution, its commercialization and green hydrogen production will require considerable time. Hence, the electric arc furnace process, based on scrap recycling, has emerged as a practical decarbonization route. However, tramp elements that are difficult to remove during refining accumulate through repeated recycling, deteriorating the producibility. Especially, Cu causes hot shortness during high-temperature processing because a Cu-enriched liquid phase forms preferentially along the grain boundaries of surface region owing to its low solubility, resulting in liquid metal embrittlement. This study investigates the effects of Mn and Ni, which are widely used as alloying elements in steels, on the hot-shortness behavior of Cu-containing steels to provide insights for steel design in the carbon-neutral era. |