An evaluation of the thermal fatigue performance of three alloys for casting mould applications

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Authors

Van der Merwe, V.
Siyasiya, Charles Witness

Journal Title

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Volume Title

Publisher

Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy

Abstract

A petrochemical company experiences premature thermal fatigue failure of the casting moulds used in catalyst production. The aim of the project was to find an alternative alloy that would outperform the current low-alloy cast steel used for the moulds. Based on their thermo-fatigue properties, 3CR12 ferritic stainless steel and H11 tool steel were chosen for testing and comparison with the currently used BS3100 B7 cast steel. Samples of each material were subjected to temperature cycling in a Gleeble 1500TM thermo-mechanical processing simulator, followed by surface analyses. The main parameters derived from the test work were the total true strain, the hot strength of the materials, and the number of cycles to failure. Additionally, the coefficient of thermal expansion for each material was measured using a Bähr dilatometer. H11 tool steel yielded the best performance by way of having the fewest surface cracks, the lowest total true strain per cycle, the most cycles to failure, the highest hot strength, and the lowest coefficient of thermal expansion.

Description

Paper written on project work carried out in partial fulfilment of B. Eng. (Metallurgical Engineering)

Keywords

Thermal fatigue, Fatigue failure, Casting moulds, Thermal expansion

Sustainable Development Goals

Citation

Van der Merwe, V & Siyasiya, CW 2016, 'An evaluation of the thermal fatigue performance of three alloys for casting mould applications', Journal of the Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, vol. 116, pp. 349-355.