Influence of heat treatment modes on the formation of structure and physical and mechanical properties of cast blanks from the aluminothermic alloys

Abstract The production of aluminothermic alloys is accompanied by high temperatures of the reaction products, the control of which is difficult both by direct and indirect methods. Filling the metal into the mould without controlling the casting temperature provides a high gradient between the metal and the mould, which leads to the formation of quenching structures and, in some cases, structural heterogeneity of the blanks. To reduce the temperature of the reaction products, an introduction to the composition of mixtures of inert additives, which determine the change in the chemical composition of the alloys, is used. The removal of high internal stresses and the ordering of the structures of the experimental samples are carried out by using homogenizing annealing. Moreover, in typical structure characteristics of cast blanks, transformations occur, as well as the diffusion of individual chemical elements throughout the blank volume. The purpose of this work is to study the influence of the procedure of homogenizing annealing on the formation of the structure and physical and mechanical properties of aluminothermic cast blanks. This paper presents the results of the study of the effect of homogenizing annealing on the formation of a structure in iron-carbon alloy castings. Iron-carbon alloys were produced by means of a new casting technology – aluminothermy.