THE IMPACT OF CHROMIUM CONTENT ON THE CRYSTALLIZATION PROCESS, MORPHOLOGY OF PHASE CONSTITUENTS, AND ABRASIVE WEAR IN Fe-Cr-C ALLOYS

Abstract

EEvery year, 555.6 terawatt-hours of energy are consumed worldwide to restore, replace, and store machine parts that can fail due to wear. In the mining industry, the largest share of energy costs is accounted for by ore crushing (33%), transportation (24%), ventilation system (9%), and extraction (8%). One of the key tasks of modern mechanical engineering is to increase the service life of quickly wearing machine parts. This study analyzes the effect of heat treatment on the structure of white cast irons with different chromium contents. To observe changes in the structure and improve wear resistance, the casting materials were subjected to heat treatment. Heat treatment was carried out in the following order: 1) quenching - two samples of each material were kept at a temperature of 1000 oC for one hour and cooled in oil; 2) release - kept at a temperature of 200 oC for two hours and cooled to room temperature. In addition, to study the microstructure of the cast samples and compare their condition after heat treatment, samples of each material were left in the cast state. According to the analysis results, the sample with a Cr content of 31%, subjected to heat treatment and cooled in oil, showed the best characteristics. The least indicators were recorded for the sample with a Cr content of 28%, subjected to heat treatment and cooled in air.