Despite the fact that high chromium cast irons have been generally used as an abrasion resistant material because of their extreme hardness, systematic studies on solidification structures of high chromium cast irons are quite limited and several doubtful points remain on the iron-chromium-carbon diagrams. As a starting point to review certain areas of the iron-chromium-carbon diagrams reported in the past, primary and eutectic carbides were identified. Then the solidification processes of the cast irons were investigated by quenching method, and lastly the morphologies of the eutectic were determined by using a unidirectional solidification method. Hypo-eutectic, eutectic and hyper-eutectic high chromium cast irons containing about 10 to 40%Cr were prepared. The cast irons containing around 10 to 40%Cr were found to solidify under Jackson's diagram, because the primary and eutectic carbides were almost all M
7C
3 except M
3C in 10%Cr irons. In hypo-eutectic irons, the eutectic nucleated in the liquid independent of the primary crystallites, and grew with a cellular interface. On the other hand, the eutectic of hyper-eutectic irons grew from the periphery of the primary carbides. In hypo-eutectic and eutectic irons, the eutectic that solidified as a colony structure consisted of matrix, fine rod-like carbides in the center, plate-like ones growing towards the colony boundary and coarse rod-like ones at the colony boundary. In hyper-eutectic irons, the eutectic showed the same structures as those of hypo-eutectic and eutectic irons, except when there was a big primary carbide in the center of the colony. The eutectic colony became fine as the carbon content was reduced, and it was finest at 30%Cr irons. The plate-like carbides changed into rod-like ones by increasing the chromium content.
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