Author(s)

Patrice Berthod, Ophélie Hestin, Elise Souaillat, Moussa Ba, Ahmed Dia, Lionel Aranda, Thierry Schweitzer, Ludovic Mouton, Alain Kohler, Pascal Villeger, Elodie Conrath

Faculty of Sciences and Technologies, University of Lorraine, Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy, France.

Three series of ternary alloys of the {M-30Cr-xC}-type with M = Co, Ni or Fe and x ranging from 2.5 to 5 wt% were elaborated by casting. Their microstructure characterizations by XRD and SEM show that very high volume fractions in chromium carbides (even more than 50%) may be obtained in a metallic matrix by this way. However graphite may also appear in very low quantities in the carbon-richest alloys. The hardness increases with the carbon content (up to 1000 Hv30kg) but it may be a little lowered when graphite is also present. The results show that very hard alloys may be simply obtained by casting of rather cheap elements.

Cast Co-Based Alloy, Cast Ni-Based Alloy, Cast Fe-Based Alloy, Chromium Carbides, High Hardness, Graphite

Berthod, P. , Hestin, O. , Souaillat, E. , Ba, M. , Dia, A. , Aranda, L. , Schweitzer, T. , Mouton, L. , Kohler, A. , Villeger, P. and Conrath, E. (2015) Refractory Hard Alloys Elaborated by Casting of Ternary (Co, Ni Fe)-30Cr-2.5 to 5 wt% C Compositions. Journal of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering, 3, 127-135. doi: 10.4236/msce.2015.37017.