Abstract
Since ductile cast iron was invented, cast iron has been used for various purposes. However, because of its poor corrosion resistance, the use of cast iron in corrosive environments was restricted. As pre-viously reported, the authors succeeded in obtaining a prominent protective film on steel by silicon impregnation (so-called siliconizing).
In the present work, 3 kinds of specimens, i.e. nodular cast irons having ferrite and pearlite matrix, respectively, and gray cast iron, were siliconized by means of a mixed gas of silicon tetrachloride and oxygen free argon in accordance with the silicon impregnation of steel. The results obtained were summarized as follows.
(1) Microscopic examination showed that porous films were formed on nodular cast iron with ferrite matrix, and particularly, on gray cast iron. On the contrary, when nodular cast iron with pearlite matrix was siliconized at a relatively high temperature for a short time, the film obtained had comparatively less pores in number.
(2) Immersion tests of the siliconized cast irons in dilute sulfuric acid showed that the siliconized film protected the underlying cast iron core from the attack of acid though it was porous. Above all, the film which had been formed on nodular cast iron with pearlite matrix by siliconizing at a high temperature for a short time showed the best corrosion resistance.
