New Wear-Resistant Metastable Strain Hardenable Alloyed Cast Irons

Abstract

This work addresses an urgent problem which is saving alloying elements (Ni, Mo, Nb, V, W and others) -which very scarce in Ukraine and other countries- while increasing the physical, mechanical and operational properties of the new designed and developed wear-resistant cast irons. Optical microscopy, x-ray structure analysis, transmission and scanning (fracture) electron microscopy methods, different-thermal, magnetometric and x-ray analyses, as well as hardness and micro-hardness tests, impact energy, and abrasive wear tests in environments of cast-iron shots were employed in the research. The work summarizes the controlling conditions for forming various metastable phases by including deformation (or strain) induced phase transformation (DIPT) and through realization in the process of testing. New wear-resistant economical alloyed cast irons with a metastable austenite-carbide and austenite-martensite-carbide structure are developed, which are being strain- hardened under impact-abrasive wearing operation conditions due to the realization of process DIPT in the superficial layer. These new cast irons are intended for manufacturing parts of different equipment (protective plates of sinter machines, furnaces, tracks for transferring raw materials at iron and steel works, etc.). These cast irons do not contain expensive and deficit alloying components, like nickel, molybdenum, vanadium, and more expensive similar materials. Simultaneously they possess enhanced impact-abrasive wear resistance.