Gravity Casting and Hot Forging of Al-Mg Alloy and Al-Mg Alloy with Fe Added

Al-4.7%Mg alloy with 0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6 and 0.8% Fe added was cast using a copper mold and an insulator mold. The cooling rates of ingots cast using the copper mold and the insulator mold were 30.6 °C/s and 0.5 °C/s, respectively. The tensile stress and elongation of the ingots cast by the copper mold were superior to those cast by the insulator mold. The addition of Fe did not lead to tensile stress, but the elongation became smaller as the Fe content increased. The elongation of the ingot cast using the copper mold became much smaller on addition of only 0.2% Fe. The tensile stress and elongation were improved by hot forging with 50% reduction. The elongation of the ingots with Fe added was significantly improved by the hot forging. The degree of improvement of the tensile stress and elongation for the ingots cast using the insulator mold was remarkable.

Isothermal and Non-isothermal Crystallization Kinetics of Mold Fluxes used in Continuous Casting of Steel: A Review

Casting powders or mold fluxes, as they are more commonly known, are used in the continuous casting of steel to prevent the steel shell from sticking to the copper mold. The powders first melt and create a pool of liquid flux above the liquid steel in the mold, and then the liquid mold fluxes penetrate into the gap between water-cooled copper mold and steel shell, where crystallization of solid phases takes place as the temperatures gradually drop. It is important to understand the crystallization behavior of these mold fluxes used in the continuous casting of steel because the crystalline phase fraction in the slag films plays a crucial role in determining the horizontal heat flux during the casting process. In this work, the existing literature on the crystallization kinetics of conventional and fluoride-free mold fluxes used in the continuous casting of steel has been reviewed. The review has been divided into two main sections viz. the isothermal crystallization kinetics and non-isothermal crystallization kinetics. Under each of these sections, three of the most widely used techniques for studying the crystallization kinetics have been included viz. thermoanalytical techniques such as differential scanning calorimetry/differential thermal analysis (DSC/DTA), the single and double hot thermocouple technique (SHTT and DHTT), and the confocal scanning laser microscopy (CSLM). For each of these techniques, the available literature related to the crystallization kinetics of mold fluxes has been summarized thereby encompassing a wide range of investigations comprising of both conventional and fluoride-free fluxes. Summaries have been included after each section with critical comments and insights by the authors. Finally, the relative merits and demerits of these methods vis-à-vis their application in studying the crystallization kinetics of mold fluxes have been discussed.

Characterization and Corrosion Resistance of Boron-Containing-Austenitic Stainless Steels Produced by Rapid Solidification Techniques

The composition of a commercial duplex stainless steel was modified with boron additions (3.5, 4.5, and 5.5 wt.%) and processed by rapid-quenching techniques: Melt-spinning, copper-mold casting, and high-velocity oxygen fuel (HVOF). Spray deposition was also used to produce alloys as the process may induce rapid-solidified-like microstructures. These processing routes led to microstructures with distinguished corrosion resistance. Among the alloys with different boron contents, the 63.5Fe25Cr7Ni4.5B composition enabled the production of fully amorphous ribbons by melt-spinning. The cooling rate experienced during copper-mold casting, high-velocity oxygen fuel, and spray deposition did not ensure complete amorphization. The crystalline phases thereby formed were (Fe,Cr)2B and (Fe,Mo)3B2 borides in an austenitic-matrix with morphology and refinement dependent of the cooling rates. Fully amorphous 63.5Fe25Cr7Ni4.5B ribbons exhibited outstanding corrosion resistance in chloride-rich alkaline and acid media with negligible corrosion current densities of about 10−8 A/cm² and a broad passivation plateau. Although the specimens of the same composition produced by HVOF process and spray deposition exhibited lower corrosion resistance because of intrinsic porosity and crystalline phases, their corrosion behaviors were superior to those of AISI 1045 steel used as substrate with the advantage to be reinforced with hard borides known to be resistant against wear.

Influence of the Process for Obtaining Massive Amorphous Materials on the Defects of the Structure in the Alloy Fe61+xCo10-xY8W1B20 , where x = 0 or 1

As part of the work, a rapid cooled alloy was produced with the chemical composition Fe61+xCo10-xY8W1B20, where: x = 0 or 1 using two methods, suction in and injecting the molten alloy into the copper mold. The material was obtained in the form of 10 mm x 5 mm x 0.5 mm plates. Studies on the structure of the obtained alloys were carried out using X-ray diffraction. Obtained X-ray diffraction images are typical for amorphous materials. Using the vibration magnetometer, static magnetic hysteresis loops and primary magnetization curves were measured. The produced samples are characterized by a saturation value above 1T and a coercive field value below 200 A/m. Based on the theory of H. Kronm�ller, numerical analysis of the curves of the original magnetization was carried out. It has been found that the process of magnetizing the produced materials has defects of the amorphous structure in the form of pseudo-location dipoles and free volumes. In addition, the spin wave stiffness parameter was determined.