Discussion of RE Inclusions as Heterogeneous Nuclei of Primary Austenite in Hardfacing Metals of Medium-High Carbon Steels

As the substrate for nucleation of primary austenite in hardfacing metals, the effectiveness of RE inclusions and the most common inclusions such as Al2O3, SiO2 and MnO in hardfacing metals of medium-high carbon steels was analyzed and calculated in detail. The calculation based on the theory of planar lattice misfit shows that Ce2O3, La2O3 and Ce2O2S, instead of SiO2, Al2O3, MnO and CeS, are effective as the heterogeneous nuclei of primary austenite in medium-high carbon steels.

Study on Heterogeneous Nuclei in Cast H13 Steel Modified by Rare Earth

The dendrite segregation in cast H13 steel was weakened with RE modification treatment. Grain boundary carbide during quenching was also under control and impact toughness was improved greatly. By thermodynamic calculation, analysis of two-dimensional lattice misfitting and electron probe analysis, it is found that Ce2O3 may act as the heterogeneous nuclei of modified cast H13 steel.

Electron back-scattering diffraction preliminary analysis of heterogeneous nuclei in magnesium alloy during solidification process under GPa high pressure

The effective heterogeneous nuclei in Mg-7.92 Zn-1.70 Y alloy during solidification process under high pressure was investigated by EBSD. It is found that the orientation relationship between Mg matrix and MgY phase, [111]_（MgY）//[1210]_（α-Mg） and（101）_（MgY）//（0001）_（α-Mg）, exists between Mg matrix and MgY phase.The MgY phase is the potential heterogeneous nuclei substrate for a-Mg solidified under high pressure. It is calculated by Bramfitt mode that the mismatch between Mg matrix and MgY phase is greater than 12% under atmospheric pressure. When solidified under high pressure of 4 GPa, the solidification pressure can increase the number of the α-Mg nucleus by reducing the size of the nucleus, decreasing interfacial energy of MgY/a-Mg, and changing the wettability between MgY phase and α-Mg from non-wetting under atmospheric pressure to wetting under high pressure. The MgY phase becomes a powerful heterogeneous nuclei for α-Mg crystal. Increasing the number of valid heterogeneous nuclei substrate increases nucleus number and refines the grain of the alloy.

Efects of minor amounts of scandium on microstructure and mechanical properties of ZA27 alloy

The influences of minor amounts of scandium on the microstructure and mechanical properties of as-cast ZA27 alloy have been experimentally investigated.The experimental results show that as far as the Sc addition is individually concerned,the refinement result of the as-cast ZA27 alloy with 0.5wt.%Sc addition is comparatively better.After alloying with minor amounts of Sc,the coarse dendrites of the ZA27 alloy are refined and transformed into the uniform and small equiaxed grain microstructure;also the eutectics among the grain boundaries become finer.The test results of mechanical properties show that the tensile strength and hardness of the as-cast ZA27 alloy containing 0.5wt.%Sc approach 495 MPa and 120.2 HB,increase by28.5%and 33.1%,respectively,compared with those of the ZA27 alloy with no addition of Sc element,while the elongation of the alloy is improved to 7.6%from 2.7%.The SEM,EDAX and XRD analyses show that in the ZA27 alloy,the trace element Sc combines with Al to form the square Al3Sc phase particles,which serve as heterogeneous nuclei,facilitating the refinement of the microstructure and the improvement of the mechanical properties of the alloy.

Effects of rare earth oxide on hardfacing metal microstructure of medium carbon steel and its refinement mechanism

The electrodes for hardfacing medium carbon steel with six additions of rare earth oxide were developed in this work. By means of optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy, the microstructure, inclusion and the fractograph of the hardfacing metal were observed. Then, the effects of rare earth oxide on microstructure and inclusions in hardfacing metal were analyzed. The effectiveness of rare earth oxide as heterogeneous nuclei of δ-Fe was calculated with the misfit theory. The results showed that, the microstructure of hardfacing metal was composed of ferrite and small amount of pearlite. The microstructure was refined at first and then coarsened with the increase of rare earth oxide addition. The fractograph was changed from brittle to equiaxed dimples, then became quasi-cleavage and cleavage gradually. The calculated results showed that, the ferrite grain size could be refined because that LaAlO3 as heterogeneous nuclei of δ-Fe was moderately effective, and the ferrite grain size was coarsened because the misfits between Ce2O3 and δ-Fe, Ce2O2S and δ-Fe were increased with futher increase of rare earth oxide addition.

Effect of La_2O_3 on granular bainite microstructure and wear resistance of hardfacing layer metal

The purpose of this work was to investigate the effect of La2O3 on the granular bainite microstructure and wear resistance of hardfacing layer metal. The hardfacing layer metals with different contents of La2O3 were prepared. The microstructures of the hardfacing layer metals were observed by field emission scanning electron microscopy （FESEM） and transmission electron micros-copy （TEM）. The hardness and wear resistance of the hardfacing layer metals were measured respectively. The results indicated that with the increasing content of La2O3, the amount of granular bainite increased, while that of martensite decreased and that of retained austenite did not change obviously. When the content of La2O3 was 2.55 wt.%, the volume fraction of the granular bainite in the hardfacing layer metal was 73.2%. Meanwhile, the wear resistance of the hardfacing layer metal was the largest, which was 12100 min/g. The mismatch between the face （100） of LaAlO3 and the face （100） ofδ-Fe was 7.1%. Therefore, LaAlO3 could act as moder-ate effective heterogeneous nuclei ofδ-Fe and the granular bainite could be refined.