This work presents a scheme for the manufacture of spherical grinding bodies used in grinding and crushing machinery as a grinding medium from abrasion-resistant cast iron CHKH16 (according to GOST 7769-82) free of shrinkage defects produced by casting into single sand molds with a vertical joint and by usingcoolers. The grinding efficiency in terms of material destruction and energy consumption has been studied according to a wide range of operating parameters and new scheme for calculating the sprue and supply system has been developed by the authors of the article. Its functionality has been substantiated, particularly the use of a central riser acting as a head and the use of coolers. The conducted numerical simulation has shown the dependence of a solid phase formation over time, which characterizes the direction of the system crystallization and determines the locations of the shrinkage defects concentration. The manufacture of the grinding body with a 100 mm diameter using the considered technology is presented in this paper.

The primary microstructure of new Co-based superalloy of Co-20Ni-7Al-7W (at.%) type was showed in this article. The alloy was manufactured by induction melting in vacuum furnaces. This alloy is a part of new group of high-temperature materials based on Co solid solution and strengthened by coherent L12 phase similar to Ni-based superalloys with γʹ phase. The final form of Coss/L12 microstructure is obtained after fully heat treatment included homogenization, solutionizing and aging processes. But first step of heat treatment thermal parameters determination is characterization of primary microstructure of alloys after casting process with special attentions on segregations of alloying elements in solid solution and presences of structural elements such as eutectic areas, and other phases precipitations. In analysed case the relatively high homogeneity of chemical composition was expected especially in the case of W distribution, what was confirmed be SEM/EDS analysis in dendritic and interdendritic areas.

Throughout the casting process, mold filling plays a very significant role in the casting quality control. It is important to study the effect of gating system design on ingate velocity of the metal which affects the mechanical properties of casting. The effect of varying the design of four gating system elements namely pouring cup, sprue height, runner and ingate design on the multiple responses like tensile strength and percentage elongation is studied using a Taguchi’s L9 OA. The Taguchi technique was coupled with a Grey Relational Analysis (GRA) to obtain a Grey Relational Grade (GRG) for evaluating multiple responses. ANOVA has been applied to identify the significance of different parameters and it was found that the pouring cup design and the runner cross-section along its length collectively contributed above 76% of the total GRG value. Finally, the confirmation tests were performed to validate the predicted optimized results and it established an improvement of 9.90% from the initial design.

Depending on the course of the processes of heat treatment and thermo-chemical treatment, the technological equipment of heat treatment furnaces is exposed to different operating conditions, as the said processes differ among themselves in the temperature of annealing and atmosphere prevailing in the furnace chamber, in the duration of a single work cycle and in the type and temperature of the coolant. These differences affect the magnitude of stresses occurring in each cycle of the operation of furnace accessories, and thus play an important role in fatigue processes leading to the destruction of these accessories. The kinetics of temperature changes during each cooling process plays an important role in the formation of thermal stresses on the cross-section of the cooled parts. It depends on many factors, including the initial cooling temperature, the type and temperature of the cooling medium, or the dimensions and shape of the object. This article presents a numerical analysis of the effect of the initial temperature on the distribution of stresses on the cross-section of the grate ribs, generated in the first few seconds of the cooling process carried out in two cooling media, i.e. hardening oil and water. The analysis was carried out by the finite element method, based on the results of experimental testes of temperature changes in the rib during its cooling.

The paper deals with possibility to improve operating performance of cast-iron heat exchangers by providing them with a copper alloy (CuTi2Cr) with the use of the flame spraying method. A test exchanger was cast of a gray cast iron with vermicular graphite in ferriticpearlitic matrix obtained in production conditions at KAW-MET Iron Foundry with the wire method used to vermicularize the material. The test samples were two plates cast in sand molds, of which one was given a flame-sprayed CuTi2Cr coat on one side. The operating performance of such model cast-iron heat exchangers, with and without CuTi2Cr coating, was tested on a set-up for determining the heat flow rate (thermal power) transferred by the heat exchanger to environment. The obtained results indicate that the value of the heat flow rate characterizing the CuTi2Cr-coated cast-iron heat exchanger was by 10% higher compared to the flow rate of heat conveyed to environment by the heat exchanger without coating.