The Melting Process and its Impact on the Properties of High-Chromium Cast Iron and the Economic Calculation

Abstract

The subject of this study is to show that the parameters of the melting process of high chromium cast iron affect the cost of casting and the properties of the cast iron. The analysis of the quality of the casting and its price was conducted in terms of the metal charge of high chromium cast iron. As is well known, in order to obtain the correct structure of the casting, and thus good strength properties, it is necessary to use clean batch components free of undesirable impurities. Unfortunately, the quality of the metal charge is proportional to its price. Thus, the use of expensive batch components offers the possibility of obtaining healthy and meeting the strength properties of castings. However, there is a flaw in this approach. And it is from the point of view of economics that production plants are forced to look for savings. Expensive feedstock materials are replaced by cheaper counterparts giving the possibility of obtaining castings with similar properties often, however, at the cost of increased inferior quality. It seems that a way out of this situation is to introduce a modification procedure into the alloyed iron manufacturing technology. The selected modifiers should affect the fragmentation of the structure of the primary austenite. At this point, it can be hypothesized that this will result in the elimination of hot cracking in high chromium cast iron. The industrial research carried out at the "Swidnica" Foundry Ltd. made it possible to show by means of the Althoff-Radtke method that by using the modification of the liquid metal of the so-called "inferior and cheaper" composition of the metal charge, a reduction in the occurrence of hot cracks and shrinkage cavities can be achieved. In addition, iron-niobium modification not only reduced the formation of casting defects in castings, but also slightly improved the impact strength of high-chromium cast iron. The work was written as part of an implementation PhD.