TheFe-Ti-Nmateralloywaspreparedthroughthein-situreactionofnitrogengaswiththeFe-Timelt.ScanningelectronmicroscoperesultsshowthattheparticlesuniformlydistributedintheironmatrixwereTiN.ThedeliberatelypreparedFe-Ti-Nmasteralloywasemployedforthe409Lferriticstainlesssteelinanattempttorefinetheas-castsolidificationstructure.ItwasfoundthattheeffectivenessofFe-Ti-Nmasteralloyonrefiningoftheas-cast409Lferriticstainlesssteelwasaffectedbyadditionlevel,holdingtimeandmeltstemperature.Itwasfoundthattheaverageequiaxedgrainsizedecreasedfrom1503μmto303μm,theproportionofequiaxedgrainzoneincreasedfrom14%to100%withincreasingtheFe-Ti-Nmasteralloyadditionlevelto2.5%.Theproportionofequiaxedgraindecreasedfrom85%to4%asthesolidificationtemperatureincreasedfrom1803Kto1883K.Whentheholdingtimereachedto8min,thesolidificationstructuresof409Lferriticstainlesssteelshowextremepointsintheproportionofequiaxedgrain.Itisclearthatthegrainrefiningefficiencygraduallyfadeawaywiththeincreasingoftheholdingtimeattheverybeginning.However,whentheholdingtimecontinuestoincreaseandexceedstheextremepoint,thegrainrefiningefficiencyoftheFe-Ti-Nmasteralloyrecoveredtoacertaindegree.Theexperimentalresultsmentionedabovehavebeenanalyzedintermsofthermodynamics.Underappropriateconditions,theFe-Ti-Nmasteralloyusedforgrainrefinementofthesolidificationstructureof409Lferriticstainlesssteelmayhavegoodprospectsforindustrialapplications.
