Archives of Foundry Engineering

The paper presents the results of evaluation of the metallurgical quality of master heat ingots and of the identification of non-metallic inclusions (oxides of Al., Zr, Hf, Cr, etc.), which have been found in the shrinkage cavities formed in these ingots. The inclusions penetrate into the liquid alloy, and on pouring of mould are transferred to the casting, especially when the filtering system is not sufficiently effective. The specific nature of the melting process of nickel and cobalt alloys, carried out in vacuum induction furnaces, excludes the possibility of alloy refining and slag removal from the melt surface. Therefore, to improve the quality of castings (parts of aircraft engines), it is so important to evaluate the quality of ingots before charging them into the crucible of an induction furnace. It has been proved that one of the methods for rapid quality evaluation is an ATD analysis of the sample solidification process, where samples are taken from different areas of the master heat ingot. The evaluation is based on a set of parameters plotted on the graph of the dT/dt derivative curve during the last stage of the solidification process in a range from TEut to Tsol.

The mathematical model of the globular eutectic solidification in 2D was designed. Proposed model is based on the Cellular Automaton Finite Differences (CA-FD) calculation method. Model has been used for studies of the primary austenite and of globular eutectic grains growth during the ductile iron solidification in the thin wall casting. Model takes into account, among other things, non-uniform temperature distribution in the casting wall cross-section, kinetics of the austenite and graphite grains nucleation, and non-equilibrium nature of the interphase boundary migration. Calculation of eutectic saturation influence (Sc = 0.9 - 1.1) on microstructure (austenite and graphite fraction, density of austenite and graphite grains) and temperature curves in 2 mm wall ductile iron casting has been done.

Impact of surface and volume modification and double filtration during pouring the moulds on basic mechanical properties and creep resistance of nickel superalloys IN-713C and MAR-247 in conditions of accelerated creep of castings made of post-production scrap of these alloys is evaluated in this paper. The conditions of initiation and propagation of cracks in the specimens were analysed with consideration of stereological properties of material macro- and microstructure. It has been proven that in the conditions of hightemperature creep at 980°C and at stress σ = 150 MPa, creep resistance of superalloy MAR-247 is more than 10 times higher than the creep resistance of IN-713C alloy. In case of IN-713C alloy, the creep resistance negligibly depends on macrograin sizes. But, the macrograin size considerably affects the time to failure of specimens made of alloy MAR-247. Creep resistance of specimens made of coarse grain material was 20% higher than the resistance of fine grain materials.

Theoretical problems concerning the determination of work parameters of the two-phase sand-air stream in the cores making process by blowing methods as well as experimental methods of determination of the main and auxiliary parameters of this process decisive on the cores quality assessed by the value and distribution of their apparent density are presented in the paper. In addition the results of visualisations of the core-box filling with the sand-air stream, from the blowing chamber, obtained by the process filming by means of the quick-action camera are presented in the paper and compared with the results of simulation calculations with the application of the ProCast software.

Creep-resistant parts of heat treatment furnaces are in most cases made from high-alloyed chromium-nickel and nickel-chromium iron alloys, both cast and wrought. This paper presents the types of casting alloys used for this particular purpose, since the majority of furnace components are made by the casting process. Standards were cited which give symbols of alloy grades used in technical specifications by the domestic industry. It has been indicated that castings made currently are based on a wider spectrum of the creep-resistant alloy grades than the number of alloys covered by the standards. Alloy grades recommended by the technical literature for individual parts of the furnace equipment were given. The recommendations reflect both the type of the technological process used and the technical tasks performed by individual parts of the furnace equipment. Comments were also made on the role of individual alloying elements in shaping the performance properties of castings.

The paper presents a solidification sequence of graphite eutectic cells of A and D types, as well as globular and cementite eutectics. The morphology of eutectic cells in cast iron, the equations for their growth and the distances between the graphite precipitations in A and D eutectic types were analyzed. It is observed a critical eutectic growth rate at which one type of eutectic transformed into another. A mathematical formula was derived that combined the maximum degree of undercooling, the cooling rate of cast iron, eutectic cell count and the eutectic growth rate. One type of eutectic structure turned smoothly into the other at a particular transition rate, transformation temperature and transformational eutectic cell count. Inoculation of cast iron increased the number of eutectic cells with flake graphite and the graphite nodule count in ductile iron, while reducing the undercooling. An increase in intensity of inoculation caused a smooth transition from a cementite eutectic structure to a mixture of cementite and D type eutectic structure, then to a mixture of D and A types of eutectics up to the presence of only the A type of eutectic structure. Moreover, the mechanism of inoculation of cast iron was studied.

This paper presents the results of Cr - Ni 18/9 austenitic cast steel modifications by mischmetal. The study was conducted on industrial melts. Cast steel was melted in an electric induction furnace with a capacity of 2000 kg and a basic lining crucible. .The mischmetal was introduced into the ladle during tapping of the cast steel from the furnace. The effectiveness of modification was examined with the carbon content of 0.1% and the presence of δ ferrite in the structure of cast steel stabilized with titanium. The changes in the structure of cast steel and their effect on mechanical properties and intergranular corrosion were studied. It was found that rare earth metals decrease the sulfur content in cast steel and above all, they cause a distinct change in morphology of the δ ferrite and non-metallic inclusions. These changes have improved mechanical properties. R02, Rm, and A5 and toughness increased significantly. There was a great increase of the resistance to intergranular corrosion in the Huey test. The study confirmed the high efficiency of cast steel modification by mischmetal in industrial environments. The final effect of modification depends on the form and manner of placing mischmetal into the liquid metal and the melting technology, ie the degree of deoxidation and desulfurization of the metal in the furnace.

The results of studies on the use of modern two cored wires injection method for production of ferritic nodular cast iron (ductile iron) with use of unique implementation of drum ladle as a treatment / transport and casting ladle instead vertical treatment ladle was described. The injection of length of Ø 9mm wires, cored: in FeSi + Mg nodulariser mixture and inoculant master alloy is a treatment method which can be used to produce iron melted in coreless induction furnace. This paper describes the results and analysis of using this method for optimal production of ductile iron under specific industrial conditions. It means, that length of nodulariser wire plus treatment and pouring temperatures were optimized. In this case, was taken ductile iron with material designation: EN-GJS-SiMo40-6 Grade according EN 16124:2010 E. Microstructure of great number of trials was controlled on internally used sample which has been correlated with standard sample before. The paper presents typical ferritic metallic matrix and nodular graphite. Additionally, mechanical properties were checked in some experiments. Mean values of magnesium recovery and cost of this new method from optimized process parameters were calculated as well.

During design of the casting products technology, an important issue is a possibility of prediction of mechanical properties resulting from the course of the casting solidification process. Frequently there is a need for relations describing mechanical properties of silumin alloys as a function of phase refinement in a structure and a porosity fraction, and relations describing phase refinement in the structure and the porosity fraction as a function of solidification conditions. The study was conducted on castings of a 22 mm thick plate, made of EN AC-AlSi7Mg0,3 alloy in moulds: of quartz sand, of quartz sand with chill and in permanent moulds. On the basis of cooling curves, values of cooling rate in various casting parts were calculated. The paper also presents results of examination of distance between arms in dendrites of a solid solution α (DASL), precipitations length of silicon in an eutectic (DlSi) and gas-shrinkage porosity (Por) as a function of cooling rate. Statistical relations of DASL, DlSi, Por as a function of cooling rate and statistical multiparameter dependencies describing mechanical properties (tensile strength, yield strength, elongation) of alloy as a function of DASL, DlSi and Por are also presented in the paper.