Deoxidation or "killing" is a process by which a strong deoxidizing element is added to the steel to react with the remaining oxygen

in the bath to prevent any further reaction between carbon and oxygen. When carbon and oxygen react in the bath a violent boiling action occurs which removes carbon from the steel. When the bath or heat reaches the desired carbon content for the grade being produced, the carbon-oxygen reaction must be stopped quickly to prevent further elimination of carbon. This addition is accomplished by the addition of deoxidizers such as silicon and aluminum which have a greater affinity for oxygen than does carbon. This effectively removes oxygen, eliminating the "carbon boil" and killing the heat. Elements other than silicon and aluminum can be used, but these are the most common. Silicon and aluminum can be added together or individually. This is determined by the type of steel desired. If silicon only is added, that particular batch of steel is referred to as a silicon killed coarse grain practice grade because silicon acts as a deoxidizer without the formation of fine precipitates allowing the formation of large or coarse austenitic grains. *Killed SteelSteel deoxidized with certain deoxidizing elements, such as aluminum, silicon, etc. The term "killed" is used because such additions cause the steel to lie quietly in the molds during solidification. *Semikilled SteelSteel that is partially deoxidized so that there Is greater degree of gas evolution than in killed steel, but less than in capped or rimmed steel. The uniformity in composition lies between that of killed steel and rimmed steel. *In killed steels, grain size is specified as either coarse (grain size 1 to 5 inclusive) or fine (grain size 5 to 8 inclusive), determined in accordance with ASTM Designation El 12. Standard Methods for Estimating the Average Grain Size of Metals (by the comparison procedure). *Please read below: Steel produced by ingot metallurgy is subdivided into four categories according to the deoxidization process used. These categories are rimmed, capped, semi-killed and killed steel. When an undeoxidized steel is cast into an ingot, carbon monoxide is evolved during solidification because the solubility of oxygen decreases as the temperature decreases. By adding enough ferrosilicon and aluminum, much of the oxygen can be removed from solution and also iron oxide is reduced by the formation of silicon and aluminum oxides so that no gas bubbles form and the steel is quiescent as it solidifies. The result is a fully killed steel. Plain carbon steels containing more than 0.3% C, produced by ingot metallurgy, are usually fully killed. Semi-killed steels are those which are partially deoxidized. Ingots for which the evolution of bubbles of carbon oxide gas is permitted during solidification produce rimmed steel, while capping means the interruption of the rimming process by freezing the top of the ingot by putting a cast iron cap on it. The

different practices produce ingots that differ with respect to segregation, inclusion content and as-cast microstructure.