Stress analysis in the surface layer of steel castings

Stress measurements were taken on three castings made on the laboratory scale by different technologies from ledeburite alloy steel; the obtained results were subjected to a detailed analysis. The first casting was made by a conventional technique, i.e. by pouring metal through the riser into a bentonite sand mould. In the case of the second casting, the mould pouring process was additionally assisted by vibrations applied in order to reduce to a minimum the stresses formed in the casting. The process of making the third casting included a metallurgical treatment of molten metal, which comprised deoxidation using CaSi (0.1 wt. %), inoculation with a complex Reseed® inoculant (0.1 wt. %) and argon blowing of the melt. Stresses were measured by a magnetic method based on the Barkhausen noise effect. It has been found that mould vibrating immediately after pouring did not yield the expected result of stress level reduction. Only the additional vibration treatment and stress relief annealing conducted on raw castings 1 and 2 slightly reduced the stress level in the surface layer of these castings. On the other hand, very satisfactory results were obtained with the secondary metallurgical treatment of molten metal. This treatment has contributed to a very significant stress reduction in the surface layer of the examined castings.

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