Features of iron foundry production in Belarus and its prospects

Abstract

A historical overview of the development of iron foundry production in the world is presented. The modern level of the material structure in iron casting has an outstripping growth of ductile cast iron grades. The paper describes the features of iron foundry production in Belarus. Technologies and equipment are significantly inferior to foreign ones in terms of productivity and specific resource costs per unit of product. The specific character of Belarus lies in the still widespread use of cupolas, molds from sand-clay mixtures, predominant use of gray cast iron, and small volumes of ductile cast iron production. The total capacity of all foundries is 557.5 thousand tons of casting per year, but the peculiarity is that only about 250 thousand tons per year are actually produced. Development and implementation of the “Program for the Development of Foundry Industries of the Republic of Belarus for years 2017–2030” made it possible to ensure more efficient operation of the foundry industry in the country. In the near future Belorussian foundry industry will reproduce the global trend for critical casting products: transfer to ductile cast iron instead of gray one and further transition to ausferritic (bainitic) cast iron instead of rolled steel.