The influence of carbon and copper on the solidification process of the ferritic-austenitic cast steel

Technological problems which occur during the production of castings made of ferritic-austenitic (duplex) cast steel have caused that this most modern material among corrosion-resistant cast steels is seldom produced in Poland. The main reason of arising problems is the necessity of achieving a very low carbon content (Cmax = 0.03%, according to PN-EN 10283:2004) and the occurring of hot cracking. It is impossible for our domestic foundries to achieve such a low carbon content, because it demands for out-of-furnace treatment. It should be mentioned that the standards developed by international cast steel producers admit also cast steel grades with higher carbon content than the PN-EN 10283:2004 Standard. The so far produced in Poland massive castings have exhibited higher (0,05 - 0,12) carbon content, but also the significant hot cracking susceptibility. Is the increased carbon content along with about 3% copper addition, which lowers the temperature of the end of solidification process, the reason of hot cracking of produced castings? The paper presents the results of investigation performed by DDTA and ThermoCalc analyses, as well as by microstructural examination for duplex cast iron with varying carbon content.