Investigation of the Possibility of Introducing Dispersed Boron Carbide Particles into the Melt of Austenitic Steel 12X18H10T During Centrifugal Casting

Abstract

The principal way to improve the mechanical and operational properties of steel is to adjust its chemical composition or to grind the metal structure. An alternative to the use of expensive alloying elements to improve the mechanical and operational properties of steel can be the dispersed hardening of steel with hard refractory fine particles of carbides, oxides, nitrides. This work, which was carried out within the framework of grant № AP23485709, funded by the Science Committee of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan, is devoted to the study of the possibility of introducing dispersed boron carbide particles into the melt of austenitic steel 12X18H10T during centrifugal casting. At the first stage of the research, the interaction of dispersed particles of boron carbide and steel was simulated using the FactSage software package. The simulation showed that boron carbide particles will interact with the metal melt of austenitic steel 12X18H10T, which can lead to their complete dissociation. At the next stage of crystallization, the formation of carbide phases based on titanium carbide with a HCC structure, as well as a carbide phase based on chromium carbide with the formula M23C, will begin, starting at a temperature of 1250°C. When the temperature decreases to 1050°C, the separation of boride phases based on chromium begins in the system under consideration. The experiments and metallographic analysis carried out at the second stage of the research confirmed the results of thermodynamic modeling. The introduced boron carbide particles completely dissociate when interacting with a metal melt. The carbon contained in the composition of boron carbide and in the composition of the initial melt contributes to the formation of carbide and carbon-nitride phases based on titanium.