The paper presents results of calorimetric studies of foundry nickel superalloys: IN100, IN713C, Mar - M247 and ŻS6 U. Particular attention was paid to determination of phase transiti ons temperatures during heating and cooling. The samples were heated to a temperature of 1500°C with a rate of 10°C ⋅ min – 1 and then held at this temperature for 5 min. After a complete melting, the samples were cooled with the same rat e. Argon with a purity of 99.99% constituted the protective atmosphere. The sample was placed in an alundum crucible with a capacity of 0.45 cm 3 . Temperature and heat calibration was carried out based on the mel ting point of high- purity Ni. The tests were carried out by the differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) using a Multi HTC high -temperature calorimeter from Setaram. Based on the DSC curves, the following temperatures were determined: solidus and liquidus, dissolution and precipitation of the γ ’ phase, MC carbides and melting of the γ ’ /γ eutectic. In the temperature range of 100 -1100°C, specific heat capacity of the investigated superalloys was determined. It was found that the IN713C and IN100 alloys exhibit a higher specific heat while compared to the Mar - M247 and ŻS6 U alloys.

The present investigation focuses on the study of the influence of titanium inoculation on tribological properties of High Chromium Cast Iron. Studies of tribological properties of High Chromium Cast Iron, in particularly the wear resistance are important because of the special application of this material. High Chromium Cast Iron is widely used for parts that require high wear resistance for example the slurry pumps, brick dies, several pieces of mine drilling equipment, rock machining equipment, and similar ones. Presented research described the effects of various amounts of Fe-Ti as an inoculant for wear resistance. The results of wear resistance were collated with microstructural analysis. The melts were conducted in industrial conditions. The inoculation was carried out on the stream of liquid metal. The following amount of inoculants have been used; 0.17% Fe-Ti, 0.33% Fe-Ti and 0.66% Fe-Ti. The tests were performed on the machine type MAN. The assessment of wear resistance was made on the basis of the weight loss. The experimental results indicate that inoculation improve the wear resistance. In every sample after inoculation the wear resistance was at least 20% higher than the reference sample. The best result, thus the smallest wear loss was achieved for inoculation by 0.66% Fe-Ti. There is the correlation between the changing in microstructure and wear resistance. With greater amount of titanium the microstructure is finer. More fine carbides do not crumbling so quickly from the matrix, improving the wear resistance.

A large number of defects of castings made in sand moulds is caused by gases. There are several sources of gases: gases emitted from moulds, cores or protective coatings during pouring and casting solidification; water in moulding sands; moisture adsorbed from surroundings due to atmospheric conditions changes. In investigations of gas volumetric emissions of moulding sands amounts of gases emitted from moulding sand were determined - up to now - in dependence of the applied binders, sand grains, protective coatings or alloys used for moulds pouring. The results of investigating gas volumetric emissions of thin-walled sand cores poured with liquid metal are presented in the hereby paper. They correspond to the surface layer in the mould work part, which is decisive for the surface quality of the obtained castings. In addition, cores were stored under conditions of a high air humidity, where due to large differences in humidity, the moisture - from surroundings - was adsorbed into the surface layer of the sand mould. Due to that, it was possible to asses the influence of the adsorbed moisture on the gas volumetric emission from moulds and cores surface layers by means of the new method of investigating the gas emission kinetics from thin moulding sand layers heated by liquid metal. The results of investigations of kinetics of the gas emission from moulding sands with furan and alkyd resins as well as with hydrated sodium silicate (water glass) are presented. Kinetics of gases emissions from these kinds of moulding sands poured with Al-Si alloy were compared.

The paper presents the results of preliminary research on the use of silica sands with hydrated sodium silicate 1.5% wt. of binder for the performance of eco-friendly casting cores in hot-box technology. To evaluate the feasibility of high quality casting cores performed by the use of this method, the tests were made with the use of a semiautomatic core shooter using the following operating parameters: initial shooting pressure of 6 bar, shot time 4 s and 2 s, core-box temperature 200, 250 and 300 °C and core heating time 30, 60, 90 and 150 s. Matrixes of the moulding sands were two types of high-silica sand: fine and medium. Moulding sand binder was a commercial, unmodified hydrated sodium silicate having a molar module SiO2/Na2O of 2.5. In one shot of a core-shooter were made three longitudinal samples (cores) with a total volume of about 2.8 dm3. The samples thus obtained were subjected to an assessment of the effect of shooting parameters, i.e. shooting time, temperature and heating time, using the criteria: core-box fill rate, bending strength (RgU), apparent density and surface quality after hardening. The results of the trials on the use of sodium silicate moluding sands made it possible to further refine the conditions of next research into the improvement of inorganic warm-box/hot-box technology aimed at: reduction of heating temperature and shot time. It was found that the performance of the cores depends on the efficiency of the venting system, shooting time, filling level of a shooting chamber and grains of the silica matrix used.

Cast irons are good examples of materials which are more sensitive to chemical composition and production conditions. In this research to improve casting quality, solidification and nucleation process in grey cast iron was investigate. In particular, attempts have been made to rationalize variation in eutectic cells with nucleation sites and eutectic solidification undercooling. Four castings with different diameter and similar chemical composition and pouring temperature and different inoculant percentage was casted. The cooling curve and maximum and minimum undercooling for each castings was measured. Also optical metallography and image analyzer has been used to determine the average eutectic cells diameter, and linear and surface densities, and volume density was calculated. The results of this research show a competitive behavior between nucleation sites and eutectic undercooling. Higher nucleation sites and higher eutectic undercooling cause higher eutectic cell density. But increasing nucleation sites by introducing inoculants to molten metal, is accompanied with reduction in eutectic undercooling. It means that inoculation and undercooling have opposite effect on each other. So, to achieve maximum cell density, it is necessary to create an optimization between these parameters.

The modified surface layers of Mg enriched with Al and Si were fabricated by thermochemical treatment. The substrate material in contact with an Al + 20 wt.% Si powder mixture was heated to 445ºC for 40 or 60 min. The microstructure of the layers was examined by OM and SEM. The chemical composition of the layer and the distribution of elements were determined by energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). The experimental results show that the thickness of the layer is dependent on the heating time. A much thicker layer (1 mm) was obtained when the heating time was 60 min than when it was 40 min (600 μm). Both layers had a non-homogeneous structure. In the area closest to the Mg substrate, a thin zone of a solid solution of Al in Mg was detected. It was followed by a eutectic with Mg17Al12and a solid solution of Al in Mg. The next zone was a eutectic with agglomerates of Mg2Si phase particles; this three-phase structure was the thickest. Finally, the area closest to the surface was characterized by dendrites of the Mg17Al12phase. The microhardness of the modified layer increased to 121-236 HV as compared with 33-35 HV reported for the Mg substrate.

The paper presents an application of advanced data-driven (soft) models in finding the most probable particular causes of missed ductile iron melts. The proposed methodology was tested using real foundry data set containing 1020 records with contents of 9 chemical elements in the iron as the process input variables and the ductile iron grade as the output. This dependent variable was of discrete (nominal) type with four possible values: ‘400/18’, ‘500/07’, ‘500/07 special’ and ‘non-classified’, i.e. the missed melt. Several types of classification models were built and tested: MLP-type Artificial Neural Network, Support Vector Machine and two versions of Classification Trees. The best accuracy of predictions was achieved by one of the Classification Tree model, which was then used in the simulations leading to conversion of the missed melts to the expected grades. Two strategies of changing the input values (chemical composition) were tried: content of a single element at a time and simultaneous changes of a selected pair of elements. It was found that in the vast majority of the missed melts the changes of single elements concentrations have led to the change from the non-classified iron to its expected grade. In the case of the three remaining melts the simultaneous changes of pairs of the elements’ concentrations appeared to be successful and that those cases were in agreement with foundry staff expertise. It is concluded that utilizing an advanced data-driven process model can significantly facilitate diagnosis of defective products and out-of-control foundry processes.

This study characterizes the bronze jewellery recovered from the Lusatian culture urn-field in Mała Kępa (Chełmno land, Poland). Among

many common ornaments (e.g. necklaces, rings, pins) the ones giving evidence of a steppe-styled inspiration (nail earrings) were also

identified. With the dendritic microstructures revealed, the nail earrings prove the implementing of a lost-wax casting method, whereas

some of the castings were further subjected to metalworking. The elemental composition indicates the application of two main types of

bronze alloys: Cu-Sn and Cu-Sn-Pb. It has been established that the Lusatian metalworkers were familiar with re-melting the scrap bronze

and made themselves capable of roasting the sulphide-rich ores.

The collection from Mała Kępa has been described in terms of its structure and composition. The investigations were made by means of

the energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (ED-XRF), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) coupled with an energy dispersive

X - ray analysis system (EDS) and optical microscopy (OM). In order to fingerprint an alloy profile of the castings with a special emphasis

on the nail earrings, the data-set (ED-XRF, EDS) was statistically evaluated using multidimensional analyses (FA, DA).

The paper refers to previous publications of the author, focused on criteria of casting feeding, including the thermal criterion proposed by

Niyama. On the basis of this criterion, present in the post-processing of practically all the simulation codes, danger of casting compactness

(in the sense of soundness) in form of a microporosity, caused by the shrinkage phenomena, is predicted. The vast majority of publications

in this field concerns shrinkage and feeding phenomena in the cast steel castings – these are the alloys, in which parallel expansion

phenomenon does not occur as in the cast irons (graphite crystallization). The paper, basing on the simulation-experimental studies,

presents problems of usability of a classic, definition-based approach to the Niyama criterion for the cast iron castings, especially of

greater massiveness, for prediction of presence of zones of dispersed porosity, with relation to predictions of the shrinkage type defects.

The graphite expansion and its influence on shrinkage compensation during solidification of eutectic is also discussed.

There are two methods to produce primary copper: hydrometallurgical and pyrometallurgical. Copper concentrates, from which copper

matte is melted, constitute the charge at melting primary copper in the pyrometallurgical process. This process consists of a few stages, of

which the basic ones are roasting and smelting. Smelting process may be bath and flash. Slag from copper production, on the end of

process contain less 0,8%. It is treat as a waste or used other field, but only in a few friction. The slag amount for waste management or

storage equaled 11 741 – 16 011 million tons in 2011. This is a serious ecological problem. The following slags were investigated: slag

originated from the primary copper production process in the flash furnace of the Outtokumpuja Company in HM Głogów 2 (Sample S2):

the same slag after the copper removal performed according the up to now technology (Sample S1): slag originated from the primary

copper production process in the flash furnace of the Outtokumpuja Company in HM Głogów 2, after the copper removal performed

according the new technology (Sample S3). In practice, all tested slags satisfy the allowance criteria of storing on the dumping grounds of

wastes other than hazardous and neutral.

Eutectoid growth, as the important reaction mechanism of the carbon steel heat treatment, is the basis to control the microstructure and

performance. At present, most studies have focused on lamellar growth, and did not consider the nucleation process. Mainly due to the

nucleation theory is inconclusive, a lot of research can support their own theory in a certain range. Based on the existing nucleation theory,

this paper proposes a cooperative nucleation model to simulate the nucleation process of eutectoid growth. In order to ensure that the

nucleation process is more suitable to the theoretical results, different correction methods were used to amend the model respectively. The

results of numerical simulation show that when the model is unmodified, the lateral growth of single phase is faster than that of

longitudinal growth, so the morphology is oval. Then, the effects of diffusion correction, mobility correction and ledges nucleation

mechanism correction on the morphology of nucleation and the nucleation rate were studied respectively. It was found that the

introduction of boundary diffusion and the nucleation mechanism of the ledges could lead to a more realistic pearlite.

Different methods are used for production of bronze bearings. In terms of technical specifications, the success of each of these methods

depends on the bond’s strength and in terms of economic, the production method is important. In this study, the aim is to study the strength

and microstructure of steel-bronze thrust bearing bond that has been produced through the casting using pre-mold. In this study, in order to

bond, the raw metals are chemically washed with sulfuric acid solution for five minutes at first. Then, the molten bronze SAE660 is cast in

a structural steel S235JR pre-mold. The bond’s strength has been measured using the shear test three times; the measurement of bond’s

length has been done using field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM). The results indicate that the strength of the bond is at

least 94.8 MPa and bond’s length is 0.45 micrometers. Therefore, this method was successful for trust bearing application.

In this study T6 heat treated 6063 aluminum alloys were used as substrate material. In order to form a bond between the substrate and the

main coating, all samples were coated with Ni-Cr-Al powders. 8 wt% Yttria Stabilized Zirconia powders (YSZ) were coated with plasma

spray technique. Thickness of YSZ was 150 m and bond coating was 36 m. XRD and SEM-EDS analyses were performed to characterize

the coating layers. These YSZ coated and uncoated samples were subjected to wear testing under different spindle speed, loading and

working distance. Wear test results were compared with the kinetic friction coefficients and weight loss values. Wear marks on YSZ

coated and uncoated samples were investigated by SEM analysis. By coating with plasma spray technique, the wear resistance of Al alloys

was increased without changing the friction coefficient. It was found that spindle speed had significant effect over the wear properties than

the load applied. By YSZ coating, wear properties were increased 10 times.

Among the family of stainless steels, cast austenitic stainless steels (CASSs) are preferably used due to their high mechanical properties

and corrosion resistance. These steels owe their properties to their microstructural features consisting of an austenitic matrix and skeletal

or lathy type δ-ferrite depending on the cooling rate. In this study, the solidification behavior of CASSs (304L and 316L grades) was

studied using ThermoCalc software in order to determine the solidification sequence and final microstructure during cooling. Theoretical

findings were supported by the microstructural examinations. For the mechanical characterization, not only hardness measurements but

also tribological studies were carried out under dry sliding conditions and worn surfaces were examined by microscopy and 3D

profilometric analysis. Results were discussed according to the type and amount of microstructural features.

High-alloy corrosion-resistant ferritic-austenitic steels and cast steels are a group of high potential construction materials. This is

evidenced by the development of new alloys both low alloys grades such as the ASTM 2101 series or high alloy like super or hyper duplex

series 2507 or 2707 [1-5]. The potential of these materials is also presented by the increasing frequency of sintered components made both

from duplex steel powders as well as mixtures of austenitic and ferritic steels [6, 7]. This article is a continuation of the problems presented

in earlier works [5, 8, 9] and its inspiration were technological observed problems related to the production of duplex cast steel.

The analyzed AISI A3 type cast steel is widely used in both wet exhaust gas desulphurisation systems in coal fired power plants as well as

in aggressive working environments. Technological problems such as hot cracking presented in works [5, 8], with are effects of the rich

chemical composition and phenomena occurring during crystallization, must be known to the technologists.

The presented in this work phenomena which occur during the crystallization and cooling of ferritic-austenitic cast steel were investigated

using numerical methods with use of the ThermoCalc and FactSage® software, as well with use of experimental thermal-derivative

analysis.

Inconel 713C precision castings are used as aircraft engine components exposed to high temperatures and the aggressive exhaust gas

environment. Industrial experience has shown that precision-cast components of such complexity contain casting defects like

microshrinkage, porosity, and cracks. This necessitates the development of repair technologies for castings of this type. This paper

presents the results of metallographic examinations of melted areas and clad welds on the Inconel 713C nickel-based superalloy, made by

TIG, plasma arc, and laser. The cladding process was carried out on model test plates in order to determine the technological and materialrelated

problems connected with the weldability of Inconel 713C. The studies included analyses of the macro- and microstructure of the

clad welds, the base materials, and the heat-affected zones. The results of the structural analyses of the clad welds indicate that Inconel

713C should be classified as a low-weldability material. In the clad welds made by laser, cracks were identified mainly in the heat-affected

zone and at the melted zone interface, crystals were formed on partially-melted grains. Cracks of this type were not identified in the clad

welds made using the plasma-arc method. It has been concluded that due to the possibility of manual cladding and the absence of welding

imperfections, the technology having the greatest potential for application is plasma-arc cladding.

The ceaseless progress of nanotechnology, observed in the last years, causes that nanomaterials are more and more often applied in several

fields of industry, technique and medicine. E.g. silver nanoparticles are used in biomedicine for disinfection and polymer nanoparticles

allow insulin transportation in pharmacology. New generation materials containing nanoparticles are also used in the chemical industry

(their participation in the commercial market equals app. 53 %). Nanomaterials are used in electronics, among others for semiconductors

production (e.g. for producing nanoink Ag, which conducts electric current).

Nanomaterials, due to their special properties, are also used in the foundry industry in metallurgy (e.g. metal alloys with nanocrystalline

precipitates), as well as in investment casting and in moulding and core sand technologies. Nanoparticles and containing them composites

are applied in several technologies including foundry practice, automotive industry, medicine, dentistry etc. it is expected that their role

and market share will be successively growing.

AISI 52100 bearing steels are commonly used in applications requiring high hardness and abrasion resistance. The bearing steels are

working under dynamic loads in service conditions and their toughness properties become important. In order to provide the desired

mechanical properties, various heat treatments (austenizing, quenching and tempering) are usually applied. In this study, AISI 52100

bearing steel samples were austenized at 900°C for ½ h and water quenched to room temperature. Then tempering was carried out at

795°C, 400°C and 200°C for ½ h. In order to investigate the effect of heat treatment conditions on wear behavior, dry friction tests were

performed according to ASTM G99-05 Standard with a ‘ball-on-disk’ type tribometer. The samples were tested against steel and ceramic

counterparts using the parameters of 100 m distance and 30 N load and 0.063 m/s rotational speed. After wear test, the surface

characterization was carried out using microscopy. Wear loss values were calculated using a novel optical method on both flat and

counterpart specimens.

Manganese is an effective element used for the modification of needle intermetallic phases in Al-Si alloy. These particles seriously

degrade mechanical characteristics of the alloy and promote the formation of porosity. By adding manganese the particles are being

excluded in more compact shape of “Chinese script” or skeletal form, which are less initiative to cracks as Al5FeSi phase. In the present

article, AlSi7Mg0.3 aluminium foundry alloy with several manganese content were studied. The alloy was controlled pollution for achieve

higher iron content (about 0.7 wt. % Fe). The manganese were added in amount of 0.2 wt. %, 0.6 wt. %, 1.0 wt. % and 1.4 wt. %. The

influence of the alloying element on the process of crystallization of intermetallic phases were compared to microstructural observations.

The results indicate that increasing manganese content (> 0.2 wt. % Mn) lead to increase the temperature of solidification iron rich phase

(TAl5FeSi) and reduction this particles. The temperature of nucleation Al-Si eutectic increase with higher manganese content also. At

adding 1.4 wt. % Mn grain refinement and skeleton particles were observed.

Investigations were carried out to ensure the granulated blast furnace (GBF) slag as an alternative mould material in foundry industry by

assessing the cast products structure property correlations. Sodium silicate-CO2 process was adopted for preparing the moulds. Three

types of moulds were made with slag, silica sand individually and combination of these two with 10% sodium silicate and 20 seconds CO2

gassing time. A356 alloy castings were performed on these newly developed slag moulds. The cast products were investigated for its

metallography and mechanical properties. Results reveal that cast products with good surface finish and without any defects were

produced. Faster heat transfers in slag moulds enabled the cast products with fine and refined grain structured; and also, lower Secondary

Dendrite Arm Spacing (SDAS) values were observed than sand mould. Slag mould casting shows improved mechanical properties like

hardness, compression, tensile and impact strength compared to sand mould castings. Two types of tensile fracture modes, namely

cleavage pattern with flat surfaces representing Al−Si eutectic zone and the areas of broken Fe-rich intermetallic compounds which appear

as flower-like morphology was observed in sand mould castings. In contrast, GBF slag mould castings exhibit majority in dimple fracture

morphology with traces of cleavage fracture. Charpy impact fractured surfaces of sand mould castings shows both transgranular and

intergranular fracture modes. Only intergranular fracture mode was noticed in both GBF slag and mixed mould castings.

Metal casting process involves processes such as pattern making, moulding and melting etc. Casting defects occur due to combination of

various processes even though efforts are taken to control them. The first step in the defect analysis is to identify the major casting defect

among the many casting defects. Then the analysis is to be made to find the root cause of the particular defect. Moreover, it is especially

difficult to identify the root causes of the defect. Therefore, a systematic method is required to identify the root cause of the defect among

possible causes, consequently specific remedial measures have to be implemented to control them. This paper presents a systematic

procedure to identify the root cause of shrinkage defect in an automobile body casting (SG 500/7) and control it by the application of

Pareto chart and Ishikawa diagram. with quantitative Weightage. It was found that the root causes were larger volume section in the cope,

insufficient feeding of riser and insufficient poured metal in the riser. The necessary remedial measures were taken and castings were

reproduced. The shrinkage defect in the castings was completely eliminated.

The results of investigations of the rheological properties of typical ceramic slurries used in the investment casting technology – the lost

wax technology are presented in the paper. Flow curves in the wide range of shear velocity were made. Moreover, viscosity of ceramic

slurries depending on shearing stresses was specified. Tests were performed under conditions of three different temperatures 25, 30 and

35oC, which are typical and important in the viewpoint of making ceramic slurries in the investment casting technology.

In the light of the performed investigations can be said that the belonging in group of Newtonian or Non – Newtonian fluid is dependent

on content of solid phase (addition of aluminum oxide) in the whole composition of liquid ceramic slurries.

Cast stainless steel of the Cr-Ni duplex type is used, among others, for the cast parts of pumps and valves handling various chemically

aggressive media. Therefore, the main problem discussed in this article is the problem of abrasion wear resistance in a mixture of SiC and

water and resistance to electrochemical corrosion in a 3% NaCl- H2O solution of selected cast steel grades, i.e. typical duplex cast steel,

high silicon and manganese duplex cast steel, and Cr-Ni austenitic cast steel (type AISI 316L). The study shows that the best abrasion

wear resistance comparable to Ni-Hart cast iron was obtained in the cast duplex steel, where Ni was partially replaced with Mn and N.

This cast steel was also characterized by the highest hardness and matrix microhardness among all the tested cast steel grades. The best

resistance to electrochemical corrosion in 3% NaCl- H2O solution showed the cast duplex steel with high content of Cr, Mo and N. The

addition of Ni plays rather insignificant role in the improvement of corrosion resistance of the materials tested.