Castability and Microstructural Development of Iron-based Alloys under Conditions Pertinent to Strip Casting – Specialty Fe–Cr–Al Alloys

Abstract

A strip casting simulation of the iron-based specialty alloy known as Fecral (or Kanthal) has been carried out. The alloys tested were found to be easily castable and show good surface quality. Increasing the melt superheat increased the nucleation density and heat flux, leading to a refined ferrite grain size. Although changing the gas atmosphere during casting was observed to modify the measured heat flux, this did not correlate to any change in the nucleation density. The cast strips were able to be rolled without cracking, and showed mechanical properties similar to those found in comparable alloys after conventional thermo-mechanical processing.