Improvement of TiC/Fe in situ composite layer formation on surface of Fe-based castings

This paper concerns a method of fabricating a composite layer in cast steel castings. During the research, the fragmentation phenomenon of the composite layer was identified, which was revealed by the nonuniform structure in the whole length. In order to limit the fragmentation phenomenon understood as tending to the creation of the structural heterogeneity, discontinuity, and agglomeration of the reinforcement, the addition of a moderator was added. The presented results of our structural investigations indicate the stabilization of the composite layer with a 50 wt% addition of the moderator. The conducted research of XRD analysis and SEM indicated the presence of TiC within the composite zone area. The average hardness ranged between 650 and 810 HV1, which was an increase of more than a three-fold increase when compared to the matrix.