Thermodynamics of the iron-carbon-zinc system

Abstract

A two-zone isopiestic experimental technique was used to determine the solubility of zinc vapor in liquid and solid iron-carbon alloys as a function of zinc partial pressure (0.1 to 1 atm), carbon content (0 to 4.6 wt Pct), and temperature (1473 to 1873 K). The solubility of zinc at a given partial pressure decreases with both increasing temperature and carbon content in both liquid alloys and solid austenite; its activity in these solutions, and in pure δ-ferrite, deviates more positively from ideality than previous model-based predictions have suggested. The Bale-Pelton unified interaction parameter formalism was successfully applied to the results of liquid-alloy experiments, but the degree of experimental scatter in the austenite equilibrations was too great to allow its application in the calculation of solid-solution iron-carbon-zinc thermodynamic parameters. Using the available results, values were calculated for the equilibrium partition coefficientK zn in solidifying iron-carbon alloys as a function of alloy carbon content; the results suggest that significant segregation of zinc between solid and liquid phases is not likely.