Shell Structure of Bimetallic Rod Made of Cu–Fe Alloy Obtained in Processes of Induction Melting and Continuous Casting
О. V. Nogovitsyn, V. О. Seredenko, О. V. Seredenko, O. V. Chystyakov, K. A. Sirenko
Physico-Technological Institute of Metals and Alloys, NAS of Ukraine, 34/1 Academician Vernadsky Blvd., UA-03142 Kyiv, Ukraine
Received: 07.09.2022; final version - 30.09.2022. Download: PDF
The possibility of the shell-forms’ appearance in Cu–Fe alloys at low concentrations of iron (up to 1 wt.%) in samples under conditions of melt rapid cooling ($\cong 1\cdot10^{3}$ K/s) and in macrosamples at a low cooling rate ($\cong 1\cdot10^{1}$ K/s) is revealed. As found, during the rapid cooling, formations with a copper core and an iron-based shell with sizes up to 50 $\mu$m are formed in the samples. As established, in the cast alloy Cu–0.75 wt.% Fe (mass of 0.8 kg) melted under certain conditions in a high-frequency induction furnace with a graphite crucible and cooled in a casting mould at speed of $\cong$ 10 K/s, there is form-similar formations with a copper core in an iron shell, but with smaller size up to 5 $\mu$m as well as larger ones (35 $\mu$m) surrounded by a shell of iron with a core consisting of solutions of Cu in Fe and Fe in Cu. As determined, during the process of induction (20 kHz) smelting in a furnace with a silicon carbide crucible of Cu–10.0 wt.% Fe alloy, due to the action of electromagnetic and surface tension forces, successive operations, there is the formation of two separate macrovolumes of phases based on Cu and Fe under certain conditions of their location in the crucible and supply to the crystallizer as well as the appropriate mode of extracting the alloy from it, obtaining continuously cast bimetallic rod (diameter of $\cdot10^{-3}$ m, length of 6 m and mass of 1.35 kg) with a copper core in an iron shell. As established, as a result of the used methods of melting and casting, along the length of the rod, two areas with a different shape of the surface iron layer are appeared. Along the first section (length of $\cong$ 3 m), the shell of a three-layer structure (an outer layer of iron, a middle layer and an inner layer with increasing content of dissolved copper) with a thickness of $\cong$ 500 $\mu$m changes successively to a single-layer iron with a final thickness of 10 $\mu$m. The next section is extended to the end of the rod, and the shell has a discontinuous (island) shape with a thickness of $\cong$ 5 $\mu$m at the beginning and $\cong$ 3 $\mu$m at the end. Separate compact formations with a thickness of up to 50 $\mu$m are also present. The core layer adjacent to the shell of the first section consists of small (3 $\mu$m) copper crystals and copper solution in iron ones and has a thickness of $\cong$ 65 $\mu$m. In the second section, such a layer in the core is absent. The core in both areas consists of dendrites oriented along the rod axis and Cu + Cu$_{2}$O eutectics. Objects of practical application of the obtained bimetallic rod structures can be cast blanks for the fabrication of contact welding electrodes, cables, wires, catalysts, $etc$.
Key words: Cu–Fe alloy, shell structure, bimetallic rod, induction melting, continuous casting.
URL: https://mfint.imp.kiev.ua/en/abstract/v44/i12/1697.html
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15407/mfint.44.12.1697
PACS: 61.25.Mv, 61.66.Dk, 61.72.Mm, 81.05.Bx, 81.30.Fb, 83.60.Np
Citation: О. V. Nogovitsyn, V. О. Seredenko, О. V. Seredenko, O. V. Chystyakov, and K. A. Sirenko, Shell Structure of Bimetallic Rod Made of Cu–Fe Alloy Obtained in Processes of Induction Melting and Continuous Casting, Metallofiz. Noveishie Tekhnol., 44, No. 12: 1697—1710 (2022) (in Ukrainian)