Taconite Pellets in the Blast Furnace

A summary of a ten-year test program utilizing pilot-plant taconite pellets in experimental and commercial blast furnaces, this paper presents operating data and results of this program, as well as results obtained in recent years with commercial taconite pellets.     

Sterling,Ringwood, and Greenwood

The growing new research area being developed along the New York-New Jersey border at Sterling Forest recalls metallurgical history that was made in this same region. For it was here that ironmaking was centered from colonial days until after the Civil War. This is an important chapter to be added to historical ironmaking articles featured in earlier issues of Journal of Metals.     

Surface finish generated in hard turning of quenched alloy steel parts using conventional and wiper ceramic inserts

Significant progress has already been achieved in green manufacturing including dry and hard, often high-speed, machining technologies. For instance, the demand for higher productivity has resulted in the wider application of ceramic and PCBN tools with special multi-radii (wiper) geometry. This paper reports some important characteristics of the surface roughness produced in the turning of a hardened low-chromium alloy steel using mixed alumina–titanium carbon (TiC) ceramic cutting tools equipped with both conventional and wiper inserts. The characteristic geometrical features of surfaces obtained in both these turning operations have been assessed by means of representative two-dimensional (2D) surface roughness parameters, and some 3D visualizations, which allowed more complete characterization of the surface topography and prediction of its service properties. Results show that keeping equivalent feed rates, i.e. 0.1 mm/rev for conventional and 0.2 mm/rev for wiper tools, the surfaces obtained have similar 3D height roughness parameters, and comparable values of skew and kurtosis. At defined cutting parameters, surfaces produced by wiper tools contain blunt peaks with distinctly smaller slopes resulting in better bearing properties. Only marginal changes of Ra parameter were recorded during 15 min machining trials.     

Role of platinum in the Na2SO4-Induced hot corrosion resistance of aluminum duffusion coatings

Electrochemical corrosion measurements have been carried out with Pt-containing and Pt-free Al-diffusion coatings on IN 738 LC in a 90Na₂SO₄+ 10K₂SO₄ (mol%) melt at 1173 K. Pt improves the resistance to basic fluxing while there are no significant differences between both coating types in their resistance to acidic fluxing. The corrosion resistance of the Pt-containing coating is also higher in the passive potential region where protective scales rich in Al₂O₃ are formed. The reason for the different behavior of both coating types appears to be related to the high corrosion resistance of the Pt-rich surface layer of the coating and an increased Al₂O₃ content in the scale of the Pt-containing type.     

Ultrahigh Current Density Ion Implantation

A study of several engineering alloys implanted at ultrahigh current densities has revealed that the process induces no change in the bulk microsctructure of the materials. Even though temperatures induced during processing exceed the transformation (tempering and annealing) temperatures, there is insufficient time for nucleation and growth reactions to occur during the temperature excursion associated with typical implantation dose and energy conditions. Substantially lower costs should accompany the shorter duration ultrahigh current density implantation process. Auger electron spectrographs reveal a substantially extended nitrogen range over those observed at low current densities (four-fold increase). This enhanced range appears to be due to radiation enhanced diffusion effects. Deeper penetration could lead to more durable surface layers.     

Inclusion counting of steel residues as means of assessing the hot working performance of steel

A new technique, Coulter Counter Particle Size Analysis, has been applied to the study of oxide inclusions in seamless ingots and their effect on defect occurrence in the finished product. The volume of oxide inclusions in representative small steel samples is a measure of hot working quality within ingots and between seamless heats. Furthermore, oxide inclusion distribution by size is a log-normal function indicating that most large and small inclusions have a similar morphology. A series of calculations were made on the number of hot working defects to be expected from the oxide inclusion population of the subject steels. Close agreement between the number of calculated defects and observed defects was obtained.     

Comparison between Ni-Cr-40vol%TiC wear-resistant plasma sprayed coatings produced from self-propagating high-temperature synthesis and plasma densified powders

Plasma sprayed Ni-Cr-40vol%TiC coatings produced from powders obtained by self-propagating hightemperature synthesis (SHS) and plasma densification (PD) processes are characterized. Chemical composition, microstructure, and mechanical properties, such as microhardness and wear resistance, are evaluated and compared. SHS coatings exhibit good sliding wear performance. The exact stoichiometry of titanium carbide inclusions in the metallic matrix affects the dimension of the crystal lattice parameter and was investigated by examining the shift of x-ray diffraction (XRD) peaks of the TiC. A value of the combined carbon/titanium ratio of about 0.6 was calculated for both powders, thus excluding the influence of the stoichiometry of the carbide inclusions on the wear properties of the coatings.     

The effect of copper content and heat treatment on the hydrogen embrittlement of 7050-type alloys

The effect of copper content (0.01 and 2.1%) and microstructure on the intrinsic hydrogen embrittlement susceptibility of unl nercially-processed AI---6Zn---2Mg---XCu alloys was investigated. (The alloy with 2.1 Cu corresponds to 7059). Hydrogen was introduced into the alloys using cathodic charging, both with and without concurrent plastic straining. The copper-free alloy in both the under-aged and peak-aged conditions was embrittled by hydrogen and the effect was enhanced by concurrent plastic strain. The copper-containing alloy (7050) was susceptible to hydrogen embrittlement when under-aged, but once the peak-strength microstructure had been developed, the alloy in the longitudinal direction showed no embrittlement even under severe hydrogen-entry conditions. Similar beneficial effects have been reported for copper additions in imparting resistance to humid air and stress-corrosion cracking for high strength AI-Zn-Mg alloys, and the results are discussed with emphasis on the parallel nature of the phenomena of stress-corrosion cracking and hydrogen embrittlement.