Effects of Ce on Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of LDX2101 Duplex Stainless Steel

Abstract

In the present study, the effects of rare earth metal (REM) Ce on the number, size distribution and type of inclusions, as well as the grain size, tensile and impact properties of LDX2101 duplex stainless steel, were investigated using thermodynamic analysis, optical microscope, image software, scanning electron microscope, tensile and impact testing machines. The results indicate that when the Ce content in steel is 0%, the main inclusions are irregular and large size Al₂O₃ and Al₂O₃-MnS. When the Ce content in steel is 0.005% or 0.02%, the inclusions are mainly spherical and small size inclusions CeAlO₃, Ce₂O₂S and Ce₂O₃. With the increase in Ce content, the proportion of small size inclusions gradually increases; the number of inclusions per unit area decreases from 122 to 58 and the average grain size reduces from 16 ± 0.7 μm to 12 ± 0.3 μm. Moreover, the mechanical properties of steels are improved, and the tensile strength, yield strength and elongation are elevated by 4.69%, 2.83% and 4.9%, respectively. The impact fracture mode of steel without Ce is cleavage fracture, however, the fracture mode is transformed into a mixed fracture of cleavage and dimple after adding 0.005% and 0.02% Ce.

1. Introduction

Duplex stainless steel is a kind of two-phase steel with approximately equal proportions of ferrite phase and austenite phase. Therefore, it covers the performance characteristics of ferritic stainless steel and austenitic stainless steel [1]. Duplex stainless steel has not only outstanding resistance to pitting corrosion and chloride stress corrosion cracking, but also high strength and excellent welding performance, and it has been extensively used in rigorous environments of chemical, marine, oil and natural gas [2,3].

In the last few years, the demand for stainless steels has been substantially increased, but the production cost of them has also been drastically increased by reason of the high price of the raw material Ni. Consequently, it is essential to research and develop lean stainless steels [4,5]. LDX2101 stainless steel is a typical lean duplex stainless steel and its contents of Mn, N and Cr are increased with the decreased content of Ni compared with AISI 304 austenitic stainless steel [6,7,8]. Meanwhile, with the lightening of corrosion-resistant industrial equipment, higher requirements of the mechanical properties of lean duplex stainless steels are urgent. Hence, it is necessary to improve the mechanical properties of lean duplex stainless steels. Lv et al. [9] and Wan et al. [10] showed that the strength and plasticity of duplex stainless steels could be improved by reducing the grain size. In addition, Liu et al. [11,12] demonstrated that the size, shape, distribution and composition of inclusions and grain size will obviously affect the impact toughness of duplex stainless steels.

It is well known that REM can purify molten steels, modify and refine inclusions and optimize microstructures of steels, and many scholars have studied the action mechanism of REM in stainless steels in the past few decades [13,14,15,16,17,18,19]. Cai et al. [20] conducted research showing that adding the appropriate amount of Ce to AISI 202 austenitic stainless steel, the size and quantity of inclusions became finer and fewer, and the grain was refined. Zhang et al. [21] found that adding the appropriate amount of Ce to AISI 434 ferritic stainless steel could transform the irregular and large size inclusions SiO₂ and MnS into the spherical and small size inclusions Ce₂O₂S and Ce₂O₃. Meanwhile, the high melting point and small size REM inclusions could be used as nucleation cores to promote nucleation by a heterogeneous nucleation method and trigger grain refinement.

Up to now, most of the research has focused on the aging precipitation behavior of duplex stainless steel, and for all we know, adding REM to LDX2101 duplex stainless steel to modify and refine inclusions, refine grain and improve mechanical properties has never been investigated. Therefore, the objective of the present work is to treat LDX2101 duplex stainless steel by REM Ce (0%, 0.005% and 0.02%) and explore the effects of Ce on the inclusions, microstructure and mechanical properties of solution state LDX2101 duplex stainless steel.

2. Experimental Procedure

2.1. Materials and Production

The industrial pure iron, Cr, Si, Mn, Mo, Ni, Cu, Al, Fe(CrN) alloy (Fe-38%Cr-7.8%N) and Ce wrapped in aluminum foil were melted in a 25 kg pressure induction furnace of the laboratory to prepare the experimental steels. The chemical compositions of LDX2101 experimental steels are shown in

Table 1. Chemical compositions of LDX2101 experimental steels (mass%).

Steels	C	Si	Mn	P	S	Cr	Mo	Ni	Al	Cu	O	N	Ce	Fe
0#	0.0347	0.398	4.83	0.0067	0.0045	21.97	0.418	1.48	0.0092	0.384	0.0033	0.25	0	Bal
1#	0.0309	0.427	4.94	0.0046	0.0043	21.96	0.405	1.50	0.0122	0.383	0.0031	0.25	0.005	Bal
2#	0.0331	0.426	4.97	0.0053	0.0036	21.87	0.425	1.49	0.0149	0.388	0.0029	0.25	0.020	Bal

. The ingots were forged into thick steel plates with the size of 150 mm × 105 mm × 35 mm in the temperature range of 1323–1473 K. The forged steel plates were rolled into thin steel plates with the size of 400 mm × 120 mm × 12 mm in the temperature range of 1373–1473 K, then they were cooled with water after rolling. In order to ensure the best proportion of ferrite phase and austenite phase, the solution heat treatment was set as holding at 1323 K for 0.5 h and water quenching.

2.2. Microstructure Observation

The analysing inclusion samples cut from the ingots were prepared according to standard metallographic procedures. The size and quantity of inclusions were counted via the particle size analysis function of an optical microscope (OM; DSX510, Olympus, Tokyo, Japan), the observed area of each sample was 14 mm² and 50 photographs were taken in this area. Then the morphologies and compositions of inclusions were observed and analyzed using a scanning electron microscope (SEM; EVO18, Carl Zeiss AG, Niedersachsen, Germany) equipped with an energy dispersive spectroscope (EDS). The EDS was corrected by the P/B ZAF method and its electron beam spot size was 2 nm. The solution samples cut along the rolling direction of the thin steel plates were prepared according to standard metallographic procedures and the precipitated phases were analyzed via X-ray diffraction (XRD; D8 Advance, Bruker AXS, Karlsruhe, Germany). Then the samples were etched in 0.5 g K₂S₂O₅ + 20 mL HCl + 80 mL H₂O solution for 10 s. A total of 50 microstructure photographs of two phases were taken using OM (DSX510, Olympus, Tokyo, Japan), and the proportion of the two phases was counted according to the contrast difference of the ferrite phase and austenite phase in Image Proplus 6 software. The solution samples were prepared according to standard metallographic procedures and etched in aqua regia for 25 s, and the statistic of grain size was measured by using Image Proplus 6 software according to GB/T 6394-2002.

2.3. Mechanical Properties

The solution cylindrical tensile specimens (total length = 75 mm, working length = 35 mm) were machined according to GB/T228-2002 and tensile tests were performed at 298 K with a strain rate of 0.5 mm·min⁻¹ using a tensile testing machine (AG-X plus, Shimadzu, Kyoto, Japan). The solution Charpy-V notch impact specimens (dimension = 10 mm × 10 mm × 55 mm, notch depth = 2 mm) were machined according to GB/T 229-2007 and the impact tests were performed at 298 K using an impact testing machine (JB300, Kason, Jinan, China); The impact fracture morphologies were observed via SEM (Maia3, Tescan, Brno, Czech). Three specimens were prepared for each test of the mechanical properties of each steel.

3. Results and Discussion

3.1. Thermodynamic Analysis of Inclusions Containing Ce

The REM Ce has outstanding binding ability with impurity elements in molten steel, and it may react with them, such as O and S, to form inclusions containing Ce. The possible chemical reactions and their standard Gibbs free energy ΔG^θ are shown in

Table 2. Possible chemical reactions and their ΔG^θ.

Reactions	ΔGθ (J·mol−1)
[Ce] + 2[O] = CeO2(s)	−852,720 + 249.96T
[Ce] + 3/2[O] = 1/2Ce2O3(s)	−714,380 + 179.70T
[Ce] + [O] + 1/2[S] = 1/2Ce2O2S(s)	−675,700 + 165.50T
[Ce] + 4/3[S] = 1/3Ce3S4(s)	−497,670 + 146.30T
[Ce] + 3/2[S] = 1/2Ce2S3(s)	−536,420 + 163.86T
[Ce] + [S] = CeS(s)	−422,100 + 120.38T
[Ce] + [Al] + 3[O] = CeAlO3(s)	−1,366,460 + 364.30T
[Ce] + [N] = CeN(s)	−72,890 + 161.09T
[Ce] + 2[C] = CeC2(s)	−131,000 + 121.40T

[22,23]. The formation of Gibbs free energy ΔG can be calculated with 1 mol Ce as the standard at 1873 K, and then the possibility of inclusion formation is determined according to the ΔG.

The reaction equation of Ce with impurity elements in molten steel can be expressed as follows:

$$[\mathrm{Ce}]+\frac{x}{y}[\mathrm{Y}]=\frac{1}{y}{\mathrm{Ce}}_y{\mathrm{Y}}_x(\mathrm{s})$$

(1)

where [Ce] is the Ce element dissolved in molten steel; [Y] is the impurity element dissolved in molten steel; Ce_yY_x is the solid phase, and its activity is 1.

The ΔG for inclusions containing Ce can be calculated by the following equations:

$$\Delta G=\Delta G^{\mathsf{\theta }}+\mathrm{R}T\ln J$$

(2)

$$J=\frac{\mathrm{Resultant}\mathrm{activity}\mathrm{product}}{\mathrm{Reactant}\mathrm{activity}\mathrm{product}}=\frac{a_{{\mathrm{Ce}}_y{\mathrm{Y}}_x}^{1/y}}{a_{\mathrm{Ce}}\cdot a_{\mathrm{Y}}^{x/y}}$$

(3)

where R is the gas constant, 8.314 J/(mol·K); T is the steelmaking temperature; J is the ratio of the resultant activity product and reactant activity product; a is the activity.

The activity a_i and activity coefficient f_i can be calculated via the following equations:

$$a_i=f_i[\%i]$$

(4)

$$\lg f_i={\displaystyle \sum _{j=1}^n{e}_i^j}\left[\%j\right]$$

(5)

where [%i] and [%j] are mass fractions of component i and j, respectively; $e_i^j$ is the interaction coefficient, as shown in

Table 3. Interaction coefficients of elements in molten steel at 1873 K.

${\mathit{e}}_{\mathit{i}}^{\mathit{j}}$	O	C	S	P	Si	Mn	Ni	Cr	Mo	Cu	N	Al	Ce
O	−0.20	−0.45	−0.133	−0.070	−0.131	−0.021	0.006	−0.040	0.0035	−0.0130	0.057	−3.900	−0.570
S	−0.27	0.11	−0.028	0.029	0.063	−0.026	0	−0.011	0.0027	−0.0084	0.010	0.035	−1.910
Ce	−5.03	0.35	−8.360	1.770	̶	̶	̶	̶	̶	̶	−6.560	−2.250	0.003
Al	−6.60	0.09	0.030	̶	0.0056	̶	̶	̶	̶	0.0060	−0.053	0.045	−0.430
C	−0.34	0.14	0.046	0.051	0.0800	−0.012	0.012	−0.024	−0.0083	0.0160	0.110	0.043	−0.024
N	0.05	0.13	0.007	0.045	0.0470	−0.021	0.010	−0.047	−0.0110	0.0090	̶	−0.028	̶

[24,25].

According to Equations (1)–(5) and Table 2 and Table 3, the ΔG of REM inclusions in LDX2101 duplex stainless steels containing 0.005% and 0.02% Ce at 1873K can be obtained, as shown in

Table 4. The ΔG of REM inclusions in LDX2101 duplex stainless steels containing 0.005% and 0.02% Ce at 1873K.

Reactions	ΔG (J·mol−1)
	1# (0.005% Ce)	2# (0.02% Ce)
[Ce] + 2[O] = CeO2(s)	16,490.47	−1863.26
[Ce] + 3/2[O] = 1/2Ce2O3(s)	−41,084.91	−60,272.51
[Ce] + [O] + 1/2[S] = 1/2Ce2O2S(s)	−44,780.79	−62,915.73
[Ce] + 4/3[S] = 1/3Ce3S4(s)	49,649.23	32,990.78
[Ce] + 3/2[S] = 1/2Ce2S3(s)	60,018.70	43,989.16
[Ce] + [S] = CeS(s)	44,211.77	26,295.62
[Ce] + [Al] + 3[O] = CeAlO3(s)	−84,694.90	−104,321.50
[Ce] + [N] = CeN(s)	433,241.58	411,426.72
[Ce] + 2[C] = CeC2(s)	383,974.43	360,024.53

. It can be seen that the ΔG of Ce sulfide inclusions is positive, so they all cannot be formed under the condition of thermodynamic calculation. However, the ΔG of inclusions CeAlO₃, Ce₂O₂S and Ce₂O₃ are all negative, so they may be formed in both steels. In addition, the ΔG of inclusion CeAlO₃ in both steels are more negative compared with other inclusions, therefore, it is preferentially formed and most stable in molten steel.

Because the actual reaction process in molten steel is extremely complex, the formation and stable existence of REM inclusions is not only related to the ΔG, but also related to the mutual transformation between them. The possible transformation reactions between REM inclusions and their ΔG^θ are shown in

Table 5. Possible transformation reactions between REM inclusions and their ΔG^θ.

Transformation Reactions	ΔGθ (J·mol−1)
CeO2(s) + [Ce] + [S] = Ce2O2S(s)	−462,280 + 81.04T
Ce2O3(s) + [S] = Ce2O2S(s) + [O]	77,360 − 28.48T
Al2O3(s) + [Ce] = CeAlO3(s) + [Al]	−102,119 − 25.70T

. Using the chemical compositions of 1# and 2# experimental steels and Equations (2)–(5), the ΔG for mutual transformation of REM inclusions in 2101 duplex stainless steels containing 0.005% and 0.02% Ce at 1873 K can be obtained, as shown in

Table 6. The ΔG for mutual transformation of REM inclusions in LDX2101 duplex stainless steels containing 0.005% and 0.02% Ce at 1873 K.

Transformation Reactions	ΔG (J·mol−1)
	1# (0.005% Ce)	2# (0.02% Ce)
CeO2(s) + [Ce] + [S] = Ce2O2S(s)	-	−87,568.20
Ce2O3(s) + [S] = Ce2O2S(s) + [O]	−7391.76	−5286.44
Al2O3(s) + [Ce] = CeAlO3(s) + [Al]	−76,402.16	−95,150.77

. It shows that the inclusions Ce₂O₃ and CeO₂ are transformed into the inclusion Ce₂O₂S, meanwhile, the inclusion Al₂O₃ is transformed into the inclusion CeAlO₃. Therefore, according to the thermodynamic calculations and analysis, it can be known that the final inclusions containing Ce in this system may be CeAlO₃ and Ce₂O₂S, which are stable in molten steel.

3.2. Effect of Ce on Inclusions

The morphologies and compositions of inclusions in 0#–2# experimental samples are shown in Figure 1. The typical inclusions in 0# experimental sample are mainly irregular Al₂O₃-MnS (Figure 1a,b) and Al₂O₃ (Figure 1c). Al₂O₃-MnS is the complex inclusion, it is Al₂O₃ that lies in the center of this inclusion, and it is surrounded by MnS outside. The representative inclusions of the 1# experimental sample are primarily CeAlO₃ (Figure 1d) and Ce₂O₂S (Figure 1e), a few Ce₂O₃ (Figure 1f) are also found, and it can be seen from morphologies of three inclusions that they are relatively small in size and spherical in shape. The type and morphologies of inclusions in the 2# experimental sample are similar with the 1# experimental sample, which are also the spherical or ellipsoidal small inclusions CeAlO₃ (Figure 1g), Ce₂O₂S (Figure 1h) and Ce₂O₃ (Figure 1i), and only a small amount of the inclusion Ce₂O₃ was found. According to thermodynamic calculations and analysis, the inclusion Ce₂O₃ cannot stably exist in molten steel, but it is detected by SEM, therefore, the formation of this inclusion may be caused by the uneven distribution of reactants and the limitation of reaction equilibrium.

Figure 2a represents the diameter distribution of inclusions in the 0#–2# experimental samples. It is clear that the proportion of inclusions of 1–1.5 μm continuously increases, meanwhile, the percentage of inclusions greater than 2 μm gradually decreases with the increasing content of Ce in the steels. This indicates that the REM Ce effectively refines inclusions in the experimental samples. The number of inclusions per unit area N_A in 0#–2# experimental samples is shown in Figure 2b. The number of inclusions per unit area N_A decreases from 122 to 104 when the steel is treated by 0.005% Ce, then it reduces to 58 when the steel is treated by 0.02% Ce. This decreasing trend can also be seen from OM photographs of inclusions in Figure 3 (The small black dots in the photographs are inclusions observed through OM). It fully proves that the Ce element has the apparent effect on the purification of molten steel.

It can be found from the above analysis and discussion that the large size and irregular inclusions Al₂O₃-MnS and Al₂O₃ in LDX2101 duplex stainless steel can be modified, refined and spheroidized by REM Ce into the small size and spherical REM inclusions CeAlO₃, Ce₂O₂S and Ce₂O₃; these REM inclusions can reduce the chance of crack initiation and propagation in the process of production and employment, so that the mechanical properties of steels can be enormously improved.

3.3. Effect of Ce on Microstructure and Phase Composition

When the compositions of duplex stainless steel are constant, the solution treatment temperature will significantly influence the proportion of ferrite phase and austenite phase and the precipitation of second phase particles [26,27,28]. In addition, it was reported that when the proportion of ferrite and austenite is 1:1, the phase composition of duplex stainless steel is optimal [29].

XRD analysis are carried out on the 0#–2# experimental samples after solution treatment, as shown in Figure 4. It is apparently reflected that only the ferrite phase and austenite phase appear and no precipitated phases are found in all three experimental samples after solution treatment at 1323 K for 30 min. The metallographic microstructures of the 0#–2# experimental samples are observed, as shown in Figure 5. It can be seen that the dark gray phases are ferrite and the light bright phases are austenite, and the austenite phases are distributed in the ferrite matrix as an island or strip. The two phases elongated along the rolling direction of the experimental steels are staggered distributions. Simultaneously, the two phases gradually become fine and uniform with the increase in Ce content. It can be seen from the statistical results of the ferrite phase and austenite phase that the proportions of the two phases of the three experimental samples after solution treatment are close to 1:1 which is the perfect microstructure of the duplex stainless steel (

Table 7. Proportions of two phases of the 0#–2# experimental samples.

Steels	Austenite (%)	Ferrite (%)
0#	47.6 ± 0.4	52.4 ± 0.8
1#	50.5 ± 1.1	49.5 ± 0.4
2#	51.4 ± 0.7	48.6 ± 1.2

).

Figure 6 shows the photographs of grain observation of the 0#–2# experimental samples. The average grain sizes of three experimental samples are shown in Figure 7. It is clear that the grains of the 0# experimental sample are coarse and nonuniform, and the average grain size of this steel is 16 ± 0.7 μm. While the grains of the 1# and 2# experimental samples containing Ce are evidently refined, and the average grain sizes are 14 ± 0.6 μm and 12 ± 0.3 μm, respectively. Compared with the 0# experimental sample, the average grain size of the 2# experimental sample is reduced by 23.9%, which indicates that the Ce element significantly refines grains of LDX2101 duplex stainless steel. Liu et al. [11] found that the microstructure of 2205 duplex stainless steel was refined after adding REM. This is consistent with our research result.

On the one hand, the mechanism of grain refinement is that the radius of the Ce atom is 50% larger than the Fe atom, when the Ce atoms are mixed with the Fe matrix, stress fields are generated around each Ce atom, which results in lattice distortion and an increase in vacancy. Therefore, the Ce atom will preferentially segregate at grain boundaries to reduce the grain boundaries’ energy, which will inhibit the movement of grain boundaries and prevent grain growth [30]. On the other hand, the grain can nucleate via heterogeneous nucleation patterns, and the high melting point and small spherical Ce₂O₂S and Ce₂O₃ formed by Ce modification can be used as nucleation cores to promote nucleation during recrystallization, which will increase the chance of grain refinement [31].

3.4. Effect of Ce on Mechanical Properties

The tensile properties of the 0#–2# experimental specimens are shown in

Table 8. Tensile properties of the 0#–2# experimental specimens.

Steels	Tensile Strength (MPa)	Yield Strength (MPa)	Elongation (%)
0#	725 ± 5.3	460 ± 4.7	42.9 ± 2.7
1#	736 ± 7.2	466 ± 2.5	44.3 ± 1.4
2#	759 ± 11.2	473 ± 4.1	45.0 ± 2.2

. It is not difficult to find that the tensile properties of the three experimental specimens are increasingly improved with the increase in Ce content. The tensile strength and yield strength of the 0# experimental specimen are 725 ± 5.3 MPa and 460 ± 4.7 MPa, respectively. However, the tensile strength and yield strength of the 2# experimental specimen are 759 ± 11.2 MPa and 473 ± 4.1 MPa, respectively, which are 4.69% and 2.83% higher compared with the 0# experimental specimen. It is clear that the Ce element improves the strength of LDX2101 duplex stainless steel. Meantime, the elongation of experimental specimens is increased from 42.9 ± 2.7% to 45.0 ± 2.2% with the increase in Ce content, and the elongation of the 2# experimental specimen is improved by 4.9% compared with the 0# experimental specimen. The plasticity of LDX 2101 duplex stainless steel is enhanced without loss of strength. Therefore, it fully proves that Ce possesses an extremely positive effect on the improvement of the strength and plasticity of LDX2101 duplex stainless steel.

The impact energies of the 0#–2# experimental specimens are shown in Figure 8. It reveals that the impact energies of the three experimental specimens are gradually increased with the increase in Ce content. The impact energies of the 0# and 2# experimental specimens are 228 ± 7.3 J and 261 ± 10.7 J, respectively. In addition, the impact energy of the 2# experimental specimen is 14.5% larger compared with the 0# experimental specimen, which shows that the Ce element plays a positive role in improving the impact toughness of LDX2101 duplex stainless steel. Figure 9 shows the impact fracture morphologies of the 0#–2# experimental specimens. The fracture morphology of the 0# experimental specimen shown in Figure 9a is typical cleavage fracture with a low impact energy. Figure 9b,c show the fracture morphologies of the 1# and 2# experimental specimens, which reveal that the fracture morphologies of the 1# and 2# experimental specimens show a mixed fracture of cleavage fracture and dimple fracture. Simultaneously, the dimples on the fracture surface of the 2# experimental specimen are in larger number and more uniform compared with the 1# experimental specimen, which shows that the dimple fracture degree of the 2# experimental specimen is higher than the 1# experimental specimen. The above analysis results are consistent with the impact test results.

The effects of Ce on strength are grain refinement strengthening and solid solution strengthening, and grain refinement strengthening is the main strengthening method. The Ce element can promote grain refinement, and increase the number of grain boundaries, which will increase the resistance of dislocation movement and inhibit microcracks crossing grain boundaries. Solid solution strengthening is another method to affect the strength. The Ce atom can move to the vicinity of the dislocation line through the diffusion mechanism in the substitutional solid solution to form a Cottrell air mass that has a strong pinning effect on dislocation.

Grain refinement strengthening is the only way to avoid the contradiction between strength, plasticity and toughness. It can improve not only the strength but also the plasticity and the toughness. The strain difference between the inside of fine grains and the grain boundaries is very small and the deformation is relatively uniform under the same external force, which reduces the risk of causing cracks by stress concentration. Thus, the steel can bear a large amount of deformation before fracture and the plasticity and toughness will be improved. The size, quantity and morphology of inclusions also have an effect on the toughness. Ce can reduce the number of inclusions by purifying the molten steel and the chance of cracks’ initiation will be reduced. In addition, irregular and large size inclusions of Al₂O₃ and Al₂O₃-MnS are replaced by the spherical and small size inclusions of CeAlO₃, Ce₂O₂S and Ce₂O₃, the REM inclusions have a strong binding force with the matrix, which can reduce the stress concentration and delay the cracks’ propagation.

4. Conclusions

In this paper, the effects of Ce on the microstructure and mechanical properties of LDX2101 duplex stainless steel were investigated. According to the experimental results, the following conclusions were drawn:

(1)

When the content of Ce in steel is 0%, the main inclusions in steel are irregular and large size Al₂O₃ and Al₂O₃-MnS. When the content of Ce in steel is 0.005% or 0.02%, the inclusions in steel are mainly the spherical and small size inclusions CeAlO₃, Ce₂O₂S and Ce₂O₃. Simultaneously, Ce can purify the molten steel, which reduces the number of inclusions per unit area. In addition, Ce can promote grain refinement and reduce the average grain size of LDX2101 duplex stainless steel.

(2)

Ce can improve the mechanical properties of LDX2101 duplex stainless steel. The tensile strength and yield strength of the steels are increased by 4.69% and 2.83% via grain refinement strengthening and solid solution strengthening. At the same time, the plasticity of the steels is increased by 4.9% by grain refinement strengthening and the impact toughness of the steels are increased by 14.5% via reducing the size and quantity of inclusions, modifying inclusions and refining grains.