Abstract

Steel quality and properties can be affected by the formation of complex inclusions, including Ti-based inclusions such as TiN and Ti₂O3 and oxides like Al₂O₃ and MgO·Al₂O₃ (MA). This study assessed the prospective use of Raman spectroscopy to characterize synthetic binary inclusion samples of TiN–Al₂O₃, TiN–MA, Ti₂O₃–MA, and Ti₂O₃–Al₂O₃ with varying phase fractions. The relative intensities of the Raman peaks were used for qualitative evaluation and linear regression calibration models were used for the quantitative prediction of individual phases. The model performance was evaluated with root mean square error of cross-validation (RMSECV) and root mean square error of prediction (RMSEP). For the raw Raman spectra data, R² values were between 0.48–0.98, the RMSECV values varied between 3.26–14.60 wt%, and the RMSEP ranged between 2.98–15.01 wt% for estimating the phases. The SNV Raman spectra data had estimated R² values within 0.94–0.99 and RMSECV and RMSEP values ranged between 2.50–3.26 wt% and 2.80–9.01 wt%, respectively, showing improved model performance. The study shows that the specific phases of TiN, Al₂O₃, MA, and Ti₂O₃ in synthetic inclusion mixtures of TiN–(Al₂O₃ or MA) and Ti₂O₃–(Al₂O₃ or MA) could be characterized by the Raman spectroscopy.