An investigation of the effect of five different inoculants on the metal expansion penetration in grey cast iron

• The production of quality castings requires the casting surface to be clean and free from defects. In some grey cast iron components which are cast in sand moulds, the metal sometimes penetrates into the mould, producing difficulties in cleaning the components. The defect causes very high costs due to component rejection and increased fettling in the casting industry. Most of the grey iron foundries around the world have problems with metal penetration on applicable components. In this work the problem of metal penetration has been studied using a commercial casting component. Eight castings were mounted on the pattern plate and five different inoculants were investigated. The experiments show that the inoculation of grey cast iron will influence the metal penetration in areas with late solidification times and where the melt is in contact with the sand mould. In all experiments 0.14 % inoculant was added in the pouring ladle. The experiments show that the best results to reduce metal penetration have been obtained when using the inoculant which contained silicon, aluminium and zirconium. Using this inoculant, the average penetration area was only about 20 % of what was found using the worst inoculant. However, this inoculant also gave rise to a large tendency to formation sinks.The experiments also show two main classes of eutectic cell size. One class nucleated at the beginning of the eutectic solidification and one at the end of the solidification. Two other inoculants, both containing Al and Si have about the same base composition. From the measurements of penetration areas, one can draw the conclusion that the inoculant with the smallest grain size gives nuclei with the shortest lifetime. The coarser grains give a longer dissolution time and this promotes the survival of the nuclei. At the end of solidification, a larger amount of graphite will precipitate at higher temperatures if new nuclei can be activated. If the hot spot is located close to the metal surface, the metal will expand into the mould; resulting in metal expansion penetration. The worst cases of metal penetration have been obtained using an inoculant containing titanium. A large number of small eutectic cells and high volume of the small cells were observed, which leads to severe penetration.

Ämnesord

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Maskinteknik -- Teknisk mekanik (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Mechanical Engineering -- Applied Mechanics (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Grey cast iron

metal expansion penetrat ion

inoculant

inoculation

sink

scab.

Materials science

Teknisk materialvetenskap

Technology (byts ev till Engineering)

Teknik

Publikations- och innehållstyp

vet (ämneskategori)

rap (ämneskategori)