An Evaluation of the Microstructure of High-Aluminum Cast Iron in Terms of the Replacement of Aluminum Carbide with Titanium Carbide or Tungsten Carbide

Abstract

One of the problems with recycling is that of widespread contaminated steel scrap with an unwanted aluminum addition. In this paper, we will present a specific solution to this problem. The implementation of high-aluminum cast iron production has been considered. This cast iron is a cheap material resistant to high temperatures; additionally, it has increased abrasion resistance. Despite the above-mentioned advantages, high-aluminum cast iron has not been widely used in the industry so far, due to the difficulties encountered during machining and the occurrence of the phenomenon of spontaneous disintegration. The paper presents a method for replacing aluminum carbide with titanium carbide or tungsten carbide. This research shows that the carbide replacement procedure is sufficient in stopping the phenomenon of self-disintegration of a casting made of high-aluminum cast iron. Moreover, a new material was obtained, i.e., high-aluminum cast iron with precipitates of hard tungsten carbide and flake graphite. When considering the abrasive resistance of this material, flake graphite can be treated as the natural lubricant phase and tungsten carbide precipitation, as the hardening phase.