In the present work, synthetic slags (FeO-SiO2-CaO-P2O5-Al2O3-TiO2-V2O5 system) mimicking the composition of the slag inclusions of Ipanema were solidified at different cooling rates. FactSage software was used to calculate the slag’s phase equilibria from 500ºC to 1600°C to guide the microstructural characterisation. The samples solidified with slower cooling rates featured wüstite dendrites and a eutectic-like matrix, with intradendritic (Al,V,Ti)-containing iron spinel precipitates in the wüstite. The rapidly solidified slag showed refined wüstite dendrites surrounded by a Fe-O-Si-Ca-containing amorphous single-phase matrix without intradendritic (Al,V,Ti)-containing iron spinel precipitation. The comparison of the calculated phase diagram with the as-cast microstructures showed a few discrepancies. For instance, the FactSage’s database must be updated to consider the simultaneous solubility of Al, V and Ti in the thermodynamic description of the spinel phases, such as FToxid-SP-V, FToxid-SPINA, FToxid-TiSp and (FeO)2(TiO2)(s). Finally, the intradendritic precipitation of (Al,V,Ti)-containing iron spinel phases in the wüstite of the slag inclusions indicated that an Ipanema’s iron artefact was exposed to high service temperatures between 750 and 1050ºC.

This paper discusses the anomalous loss behavior in two electrical steels types. Starting from a non oriented electrical steel coil, three groups of samples with different grain sizes were produced. Grain oriented steel samples were produced from a commercially available material. The experimental procedure was performed by means of magnetic properties measurements using an Epstein frame. A procedure to draw the hysteresis curve of the anomalous loss is proposed. The results reported that anomalous loss has a different behavior when the two electrical steel types are compared. In non oriented steels anomalous loss is concentrated at the low induction region. In grain oriented steels, a remarkable participation of high induction region is observed.