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Abstract

An Investigation on the Reinforcement of a Cast Stainless Steel with WC-MMC †

by
Aida B. Moreira
1,2,
Laura M. M. Ribeiro
1,2 and
Manuel F. Vieira
1,2,*
1
Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, University of Porto, R. Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal
2
LAETA/INEGI-Institute of Science and Innovation in Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, R. Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
†
Presented at the Materiais 2022, Marinha Grande, Portugal, 10–13 April 2022.
Mater. Proc. 2022, 8(1), 124; https://doi.org/10.3390/materproc2022008124
Published: 11 July 2022
(This article belongs to the Proceedings of MATERIAIS 2022)
Versions Notes

Austenitic stainless-steel grades are outstanding materials due to their excellent corrosion resistance combined with their mechanical strength, toughness, and ductility. These properties combined with a high weldability have led to their widespread use in components for the maritime, petrochemical, chemical, nuclear, biomedical, and food industries. Notwithstanding their wide range of industrial applications, these alloys have a poor wear resistance that restricts their use in more demanding service conditions. Therefore, the development of a localized reinforcement with hard carbide particles would improve the surface wear performance while preserving the corrosion resistance level and mechanical strength of austenitic stainless steel [1,2,3,4].
This work addresses the process of reinforcing cast austenitic stainless-steel specimens with WC-metal matrix composite (MMC). For that purpose, WC and Fe powders were selected, mixed in a volume ratio of 40:60, and cold-pressed at 230 MPa into parallelepiped preforms that were then inserted into selected regions of a sand mold before pouring the stainless steel. After casting, the specimens were subjected to standard solubilization at 1075 °C for two hours to dissolve chromium carbides that may have precipitated at the grain boundaries during solidification, causing a detrimental effect on the intergranular corrosion susceptibility of the steel. The microstructure of the WC-MMC reinforcement and bonding interface was characterized by SEM/EDS, EBSD, and XRD, whereas the mechanical response was evaluated by micro-abrasion and hardness tests.
The results showed that the WC-MMC reinforcement behaves as a graded material with a variable chemical composition and microstructure along its depth. The zone nearest to the surface is characterized by WC, (Fe,W,Cr)6C and (Fe,W,Cr)3C carbides randomly distributed in a martensite matrix. In the inner zones, (Fe,Cr,W)7C3 and (Fe,Cr,W)23C6 carbides have precipitated in the interdendritic regions of the austenite, forming a multi-carbide interdendritic network. The WC–MMC reinforcement led to an increase of six times the hardness of the stainless steel and a decrease of the wear rate by nearly 70%.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization, A.B.M.; validation, L.M.M.R. and M.F.V.; formal analysis, L.M.M.R. and M.F.V.; investigation, A.B.M.; writing—original draft preparation, A.B.M.; writing—review and editing, L.M.M.R. and M.F.V.; supervision, L.M.M.R. and M.F.V.; funding acquisition, M.F.V. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Funding

This work was funded by national funds through FCT—Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P., under project references UIDB/50022/2020 and UIDP/50022/2020, and by FEDER through program P2020|Norte2020, Programas doutorais (NORTE-08-5369-FSE-000051).

Institutional Review Board Statement

Not applicable.

Informed Consent Statement

Not applicable.

Data Availability Statement

Not applicable.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

References

  1. McGuire, M.F. Austenitic Stainless Steels. In Stainless Steels for Design Engineers; ASM International: Materials Park, OH, USA, 2008. [Google Scholar]
  2. Olejnik, E.; Tokarski, T.; Sikora, G.; Sobula, S.; Maziarz, W.; Szymański, Ł.; Grabowska, B. The Effect of Fe Addition on Fragmentation Phenomena, Macrostructure, Microstructure, and Hardness of TiC-Fe Local Reinforcements Fabricated In Situ in Steel Casting. Metall. Mater. Trans. A 2019, 50, 975–986. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  3. Leibholz, R.; Robert, M.H.; Leibholz, H.; Bayraktar, E. Development of functionally graded nodular cast iron reinforced with recycled WC particles. In Mechanics of Composite and Multi-Functional Materials; Springer: Cham, Switzerland, 2017; Volume 7, pp. 241–249. [Google Scholar]
  4. Liang, Y.; Zhao, Q.; Han, Z.; Zhang, Z.; Li, X.; Ren, L. Dry Sliding Friction and Wear Mechanism of TiC-TiB2 Particulate Locally Reinforced Mn-Steel Matrix Composite from a Cu-Ti-B4C System via a Self-Propagating High-Temperature Synthesis (SHS) Casting Route. Tribol. Tran. 2015, 58, 567–575. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
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MDPI and ACS Style

Moreira, A.B.; Ribeiro, L.M.M.; Vieira, M.F. An Investigation on the Reinforcement of a Cast Stainless Steel with WC-MMC. Mater. Proc. 2022, 8, 124. https://doi.org/10.3390/materproc2022008124

AMA Style

Moreira AB, Ribeiro LMM, Vieira MF. An Investigation on the Reinforcement of a Cast Stainless Steel with WC-MMC. Materials Proceedings. 2022; 8(1):124. https://doi.org/10.3390/materproc2022008124

Chicago/Turabian Style

Moreira, Aida B., Laura M. M. Ribeiro, and Manuel F. Vieira. 2022. "An Investigation on the Reinforcement of a Cast Stainless Steel with WC-MMC" Materials Proceedings 8, no. 1: 124. https://doi.org/10.3390/materproc2022008124

APA Style

Moreira, A. B., Ribeiro, L. M. M., & Vieira, M. F. (2022). An Investigation on the Reinforcement of a Cast Stainless Steel with WC-MMC. Materials Proceedings, 8(1), 124. https://doi.org/10.3390/materproc2022008124

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