Effect of Alloying Elements On Heat Treatment Behavior of Hypoeutectic High Chromium Cast Iron
Effect of Alloying Elements On Heat Treatment Behavior of Hypoeutectic High Chromium Cast Iron
Effect of Alloying Elements On Heat Treatment Behavior of Hypoeutectic High Chromium Cast Iron
72 to 81
#2006 The Japan Institute of Metals
The relationship between hardness and volume fraction of retained austenite (V ) was investigated in heat-treated 16 mass% and
26 mass%Cr hypoeutectic cast irons with and without addition of a third alloying element of Ni, Cu, Mo and V. In as-hardened state, hardness
changed remarkably depending on the V . Overall, Ni and Cu decreased hardness but Mo increased it. Hardness increased in 16 mass%Cr cast
iron but decreased in 26 mass%Cr cast iron by V addition. The V increased with Ni, Cu and Mo addition but diminished with V addition in
16 mass%Cr cast iron. In 26 mass%Cr cast iron, Ni and Mo increased the V but Cu and V reduced it. Higher austenitization caused more V .
Curves of tempered hardness showed an evident secondary hardening due to precipitation of special carbides and transformation of destabilized
austenite into martensite. High tempered hardness was obtained in the specimens with high V in as-hardened state. Maximum tempered
hardness (HTmax ) was obtained when V was less than 20% and it increased with an increase in Mo content. The HTmax slightly increased with V
content in 16 mass%Cr cast iron and decreased in 26 mass%Cr cast iron. Ni and Cu did not show signicant eects on HTmax . The highest value
of HTmax was obtained in both series of cast irons containing Mo.
(Received September 5, 2005; Accepted November 9, 2005; Published January 15, 2006)
Keywords: high chromium cast iron, alloying element, heat treatment, hardness, volume fraction of retained austenite
1.
Introduction
cooling rate.4)
Once the high chromium cast iron has solidied, the
carbide morphology can be little modied by any means
except by plastic deformation. However, the matrix structure
can be widely changed by heat treatment. In the practical use
of high chromium cast irons, heat treatment has been
conducted in order to achieve the optimal combination of
hardness and quantity of retained austenite for abrasion wear
resistance and other mechanical properties. In particular, the
secondary carbides precipitated during destabilization heat
treatment and the carbides formed during subsequent tempering plays an important role for the wear resistance and
mechanical properties. It is said that the maximum macrohardness obtained after tempering is at most 800 HV30 in
high chromium cast iron without any alloy addition5) and that
the hardness in eutectic high chromium cast iron can be
increased by addition of Mo.6) In the case of hypoeutectic
cast iron, some alloying elements which improve the hardenability and simultaneously promote the formation of
secondary carbides with higher hardness than chromium
carbides should be added. In spite of many researches on high
chromium cast irons containing alloying elements, systematic and detailed investigations of the eects of alloying
elements on the behavior of hardness and retained austenite
during heat treatment are very limited.7,8)
In this study, therefore, hypoeutectic high chromium cast
irons, to which Ni or Cu is separately added to improve
mainly hardenability as well as Mo or V to promote
precipitation hardening, were employed. The investigation
was focused on the variation of hardness and the volume
fraction of retained austenite including their correlation with
the heat treatment conditions.
2.
Experimental Procedure
Eect of Alloying Elements on Heat Treatment Behavior of Hypoeutectic High Chromium Cast Iron
73
Number
C
Cr
Si
Mn
Ni
Cu
Mo
No. 1
3.01
16.48
0.62
0.78
No. 2
2.90
16.23
0.51
0.53
1.21
No. 3
2.95
16.00
0.55
0.56
2.14
No. 4
2.94
15.84
0.54
0.56
1.00
No. 5
2.96
15.90
0.54
0.53
2.02
No. 6
No. 7
2.97
2.97
16.12
15.93
0.52
0.51
0.50
0.51
0.96
2.03
No. 8
3.05
15.82
0.55
0.51
3.05
No. 9
2.96
16.13
0.50
0.51
1.00
No. 10
3.13
16.08
0.53
0.53
2.10
No. 11
3.06
16.06
0.47
0.50
3.05
No. 12
2.65
25.56
0.37
0.51
No. 13
2.65
26.16
0.48
0.48
1.18
No. 14
No. 15
2.64
2.62
25.91
26.31
0.47
0.50
0.51
0.50
2.06
1.03
No. 16
2.68
26.04
0.51
0.51
2.10
No. 17
2.66
25.84
0.48
0.50
0.98
No. 18
2.61
25.90
0.50
0.50
1.95
No. 19
2.64
26.40
0.49
0.47
2.96
No. 20
2.61
25.97
0.51
0.50
1.05
No. 21
2.64
25.91
0.51
0.51
2.02
No. 22
2.71
26.46
0.52
0.51
3.02
tion were (200) and (220) planes for ferrite () or martensite
and (220) and (311) planes for austenite ().
3.
74
150 m
Alloy-free
%
Alloy
1%
2%
Ni
Cu
Mo
Fig. 1 As-cast microstructures of 16 mass%Cr cast irons free of and with third alloying element.
increase in Ni content regardless of the austenitizing temperatures. Cu shows the same eect except for the 16 mass%Cr
specimens austenitized at 1273 K. An addition of Mo leads to
an increase in the hardness in all specimens. As V content
increases, the hardness rises in 16 mass%Cr specimens but
unexpectedly reduces in 26 mass%Cr cast irons. The highest
hardness is obtained in the 16 mass%Cr cast iron containing
V and 26 mass%Cr cast iron with Mo.
The macrohardness measured is closely related to the
Eect of Alloying Elements on Heat Treatment Behavior of Hypoeutectic High Chromium Cast Iron
75
(a)Austenitized at 1273 K
Alloy (mass%)
Fig. 2
Eect of alloying elements on macrohardness in as-hardened specimens with 16 mass% and 26 mass%Cr.
(mass%)
Fig. 3 Eect of alloying elements on volume fraction of retained austenite (V ) in as-hardened specimens with 16 mass%Cr and
26 mass%Cr.
76
Alloy-free
Ni
Cu
1 mass%
1 mass%
2 mass%
2 mass%
Fig. 4 Relationship between hardness, volume fraction of retained austenite (V ) and tempering temperature in 16 mass%Cr specimens
free of alloying element and with Ni or Cu.
as follows:
When specimens were hardened, the cooling rate is faster
than the critical cooling rate of their pearlite transformation.
Therefore, the V could depend on the bainite transformation
which occurs at lower temperature. When the bainite
transformations are compared in high chromium cast irons
with similar chemical composition, the nose time in 2.6% C
27% Cr cast iron is located at short time side than that in 2.9%
C17% Cr0.5% Mo cast iron.9) Since the cooling rate of this
experiment is near the bainite transformation of 16% Cr cast
iron, the eect of Cu content on the bainite transformation
must be more in this 16% Cr cast iron than in 26% Cr cast
iron and the amount of bainite transformation could be
reduced with an increase in Cu content. Resultantly, the V
increases. From the relationship between the positions of
bainite transformation, the specimens of 26% Cr cast iron are
participated more in the bainite transformation. Even if the
bainite transformation is shifted by increasing the Cu content
up to 2% in 26% Cr cast iron, the amount of bainite
Eect of Alloying Elements on Heat Treatment Behavior of Hypoeutectic High Chromium Cast Iron
Mo
1 mass%
1 mass%
2 mass%
2 mass%
3 mass%
3 mass%
77
Fig. 5 Relationship between hardness, volume fraction of retained austenite (V ) and tempering temperature in 16 mass%Cr specimens
with Mo or V.
78
Alloy-free
Ni
Cu
1 mass%
1 mass%
2 mass%
2 mass%
Fig. 6 Relationship between hardness, volume fraction of retained austenite (V ) and tempering temperature in 26 mass%Cr cast irons
free of alloying element and with Ni or Cu.
Eect of Alloying Elements on Heat Treatment Behavior of Hypoeutectic High Chromium Cast Iron
Mo
1 mass%
1 mass%
2 mass%
2 mass%
3 mass%
3 mass%
79
Fig. 7 Relationship between hardness, volume fraction of retained austenite (V ) and tempering temperature in 26 mass%Cr specimens
with Mo or V.
26 mass%Cr
Ni
181
87
Cu
175
85
Mo
158
66
35
48
80
Fig. 8 Relationship between maximum tempered hardness (HTmax ) and volume fraction of retained austenite (V ) in the as-hardened state.
(a): 16 mass%Cr, (b): 26 mass%Cr cast irons.
16 mass% Cr
26 mass% Cr
Fig. 9 Eect of alloying elements on maximum tempered hardness (HTmax ) in 16 mass% and 26 mass%Cr cast irons. (a) and (b) for
16 mass%Cr, (c) and (d) for 26 mass%Cr.
Conclusions
General heat treatments, annealing, hardening and tempering, were conducted on 16 mass%Cr and 26 mass%Cr
hypoeutectic cast irons with and without the third alloying
element of Ni, Cu, Mo and V, each, and the relationship
Eect of Alloying Elements on Heat Treatment Behavior of Hypoeutectic High Chromium Cast Iron
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