Cavitation erosion improvement following TIG surface-remelting of gray cast iron

Abstract

The paper analyses the effect of the surface microstructure effects on the cavitation erosion following rapid re-melting and solidification of gray cast iron parts with lamellar graphite and perlitic matrix. The heat source used was the electric arc generated between the tungsten electrode (via the TIG process) and the gray cast iron part. The local melting of the surface was performed at different linear energy values (El = 3420–5400 J/cm) varying the current between 60 A and 90 A, at a constant voltage of 9.5–10 V. The results showed an increase of the surface hardness from 192 to 198 HV5 to 700–740 HV5 and an improvement of the cavitation erosion resistance, the mean penetration depth of the erosion decreasing by 2.4 times, and the erosion rate by 3.56 times.Optical and scanning electron microscope were used to characterize the microstructure and to identify the phases in the re-melted area. The results showed that the melting of the surface led to an almost complete dissolution of the graphite lamella; the fine microstructure after re-solidification was composed of dendrites of transformed austenite embedded in ledeburite, consisting of transformed austenite and cementite Fe3C. Austenite dendrites have a preferential orientation and martensite needles are formed inside some of them.