Effect of Heat Treatment on Change Microstructure of Cast High-manganese Hadfield Steel with Elevated Chromium Content

Cast Hadfield steel is a material with high resistance to abrasion, provided, however, that it is used under the conditions of high dynamic loads. To increase the wear resistance of the alloy under the conditions in which no large pressures are operating, carbide-forming elements are introduced to the alloy. However, this leads to the precipitation in castings, mainly at the grain boundaries, of increased amounts of complex carbides. The heat treatment of cast Hadfield steel consists in solutioning to obtain a purely austenitic structure with no carbide precipitates. Changes in microstructure as a function of the changing temperature of the solution treatment were traced in hammers for crushers cast from high-manganese steel with an addition of chromium (1.7% C, 16% Mn and 1.4% Cr). It has been found that the use of the solution treatment temperatures much higher or prolongation of the solutioning time (compared to standard heat treatment) does not lead to the formation of a purely austenitic structure.