Increasing the mechanical properties of structural cast iron for machine-building parts by combined Mn – Al alloying

Abstract

The object of research in this work was cast iron for machine-building parts, alloyed with Al. The possibility of improving the mechanical properties of cast iron by choosing the optimal Mn – Al combinations, depending on the carbon content in the cast iron, was determined. The study was carried out on the basis of available retrospective data of serial industrial melts by constructing the regression equation for the ultimate strength of cast iron in the three-factor space of the input variables C – Mn – Al. The optimization problem was solved by the ridge analysis method after reducing the dimension of the factor space by fixing the carbon content at three levels: C = 3 %, C = 3.3 %, and C = 3.6 %. It was found that the maximum values of the ultimate strength are achieved at the minimum level of carbon content (C = 3%) and are in the range of values close to 300 MPa. In this case, the Al content is in the range (2.4–2.6) %, and the Mn content is about 0.82 %. With an increase in the carbon content, there is a tendency to a decrease in the content of Mn and Al in the alloy, which is necessary to ensure the ultimate strength close to 300 MPa. The results of the ridge analysis of the response surface also showed that at the upper limit of the carbon content (C = 3.6%), it is not possible to reach the ultimate strength of 300 MPa in the existing range of Mn and Al variation. All solutions are verified for the following ranges of input variables C = (2.94–3.66) %, Mn = (0.5–1.1) %, Al = (1.7–2.9) %. Graphical-analytical descriptions of the optimal Mn – Al ratios are obtained, depending on the actual content of carbon in the alloy, which make it possible to purposefully select the optimal melting modes by controlling the tensile strength of the alloy