Formation and evolution of Al/steel interface structure in composite casting

Al/steel composite materials were prepared using liquid-solid composite casting method,with aluminum as the liquid and 45 steel rods as the solid.The key factors affecting the formation and evolution of intermetallic compounds at the Al/steel reaction interface were studied.Results show that the defects present in the intermetallic compounds prepared at a liquid temperature of 900℃and a holding time of 20 s are the least.The average hardness of Fe_(2)Al_(5)phase is 3 times higher than that of 45 steel and more than 7 times higher than that of pure aluminum.The average shear strength of the sample obtained through air cooling is higher than that of water cooling,and Fe_(2)Al_(5)phase is the main reason for the brittle fracture of the sample.The activation energy calculation of intermetallic compounds reveals that Fe_(2)Al_(5)is easy to grow up than FeAl_(3)phase under air cooling conditions,and FeAl_(3)is easy to grow up than Fe_(2)Al_(5)phase under water cooling conditions.This work offers assistance in studying the formation of intermetallic compounds during composite casting processes.

Effect of Mg addition on TiN inclusions in GCr15 bearing steel

Compared with the original GCr15 bearing steel,TiN inclusions are greatly reduced by the effect of Mg addition,and many different types of non-metallic Mg-containing inclusions were observed in Mg-treated GCr15 bearing steel which includes MgO,MgS·MnS,MgO–MgS·MnS,MgAl_(2)O_(4)–MgS·MnS,MgO–TiN,MgS·MnS–TiN,and MgO–MgS·MnS–TiN.The inclusion size distribution based on automatic inclusion analysis software shows that the number of inclusion with the size ranging from 1 to 3μm increases obviously because a large amount of MgO,MgS·MnS,TiN inclusions containing Mg with smaller sizes are massively generated.In situ observation on the experimental steel by high-temperature confocal laser scanning microscopy confirms that MgO can provide nucleation sites for TiN.In addition,the MgS·MnS and MgO–MgS·MnS inclusions can also provide positions for the nucleation of TiN.Thermodynamic calculations indicate that after Mg addition to liquid steel,a large number of fine MgO inclusions are generated in the liquid steel because of the strong reactivity of Mg and O.At the same time,MgS precedes TiN precipitates in the solid–liquid two-phase region;thus,MgO and MgS·MnS can provide sites for TiN nucleation.At last,two possible formation pathways for the above various TiN inclusions containing Mg are discussed.