Carburization and Decarburization in Iron and Steel Production

The development of small-scale iron production has expanded the output of cast products in Russia. It is often necessary to strengthen the surface of cast-iron components. To that end, special alloys and metallic powders are applied to the working surface. In addition, strengthening by decarburization in the solid state offers a short cut from the ore to the final iron component; it is even more efficient than the familiar path from ore to steel. In the present work, such structural conversion of cast-iron components is considered. Experiments are conducted in two stages: (1) production and preparation of cast-iron blanks from industrial waste; (2) solid-state decarburization of the cast-iron blanks. The initial iron source consists of rolling scale and iron oxide formed in the surface etching of rolled sheet at AO ArcelorMittal Temirtau. Analysis of the microstructure and the change in the mass transfer between the cast-iron plate and the applied layer of oxide powder yields consistent results and indicates that solid-state decarburization of cast iron and finished castiron components is feasible.