Heavy steel castings deoxidized with aluminium are sometimes brittle intercrystalline failed during their service along primary grain boundaries what is initiated by aluminium nitrides and so called conchoidal fractures are formed. The tendency to forming the conchoidal fractures depends in particular on cooling rate (the casting modulus), aluminium and nitrogen contents in steel. During deoxidation, when manufacturing heavy castings, the elements with high affinity to nitrogen, zirconium or titanium, are added to steel that would decrease nitrogen activity by the bond on stable nitrides. The formation of stable nitrides should reduce the tendency of steel to the formation of conchoidal fractures. Deoxidation was thermodynamically analyzed at presence of the mentioned elements. For particular conditions a probable course of deoxidation was estimated at test castings. The deoxidation course was checked by microanalysis of deoxidation products (inclusions). For service and experimental castings the anticipated composition of inclusions was compared. It has been proved that in heavy castings with high aluminium contents in steel under studied conditions neither the addition of zirconium nor of titanium nor of rare earth metals will prevent the formation of conchoidal fractures.

The article is a case study of the steel milling ring casting of about 6 tonnes net weight. The casting has been cast in the steel foundry the authors have been cooperating with. The aim was to analyse the influence of the shape of the chills and the material which was used to make them on the casting crystallization process. To optimally design the chills the set of the computer simulation has been carried out with 3 chills’ shape versions and 3 material’s versions and the results have been compared with the technology being in use (no chills). The proposed chills were of different thermal conductivity from low to high. Their shapes were obviously dependant on the adjacent casting surface geometry but were the result of the attempt to optimise their effect with the minimum weight, too. The chills working efficiency was analysed jointly with the previously designed top feeders system. The following parameters have been chosen to compare their effectiveness and the crystallization process: time to complete solidification and so-called fed volume describing the casting feeding efficiency. The computer simulations have been carried out with use of MagmaSoft v. 5.2 software. Finally, the optimisation has led to 15% better steel yield thanks to 60% top feeders weight reduction and 40% shorter solidification time. The steel ring cast with use of such technology fulfil all quality criteria.

Use of welding technology for the repair of steel castings is particularly common in two areas. These include weld surfacing of protrusions that remained incomplete after casting, or filling the surface defects (cavities). These defects are more common for steel casting than for graphite cast iron, due to the lower fluidity of steel. This article describes a suitable technological process of repairing the defects on the casting using the welding technology. A specimen produced for this purpose was prepared by carving a groove into a cast steel plate 20 GL, which was then filled with a weld metal using MAG (135) technology. The following evaluation of the basic characteristics of the repaired site point to the suitability of the selected technological parameters of the repair procedure. Metallographic evaluation was carried out, further evaluation of mechanical properties by tensile test, bend test and Vickers hardness test. The proposed methodology for the evaluation repair of foundry defects in steel castings also meets the requirements for the approval of welding procedures in accordance with the relevant valid legislation.

The paper presents the results of studies on the development of manufacturing technologies to cast hearth plates operating in chamber

furnaces for heat treatment. Castings made from the heat-resistant G-X40CrNiSi27-4 steel were poured in hand-made green sand molds.

The following operations were performed: computer simulation to predict the distribution of internal defects in castings produced by the

above mentioned technology with risers bare and coated with exothermic and insulating sleeves, analysis of each variant of the technology,

and manufacture of experimental castings. As a result of the conducted studies and analysis it was found that the use of risers with

exothermic sleeves does not affect to a significant degree the quality of the produced castings of hearth plates, but it significantly improves

the metal yield.

In the presented work, the numerical simulations results of the liquid steel flow in the one strand tundish were shown. Influence of the modification and immersion depth in the liquid steel of the ladle shroud and subflux turbulence controller on hydrodynamic structure of the liquid steel movement in the working space of tundish were examined. The ladle shroud shape modification consisted on the decompression and compression of the main supplying stream of the tundish. The mathematical model used in the numerical simulations through physical modeling and industrial trials were validated. The numerical simulation results (using four variants of the modified ladle shroud immersion depth in the liquid steel) in the isothermal conditions using laboratory experiments on the water model were verified. Whereas, the numerical simulation results (using one of the tundish research variant) for non-isothermal were compared with the results from the industrial measurements. Three turbulence models: Realizable k-ε, RNG k-ε and SST k-ω were used in the computer calculations (performed via the Ansys-Fluent computer program). In order to obtain the actual view of the liquid steel flow hydrodynamic structure in the examined tundish for the two mathematical models using different turbulence models, which were most similar to the laboratory experiments and industrial measurements, the numerical simulations were performed in the non-isothermal conditions. The application in the computer calculations of the SST k-ω turbulence model caused the smallest differences between the numerical simulations, laboratory experiments and industrial measurements. Performed tests showed that ladle shroud can be used as a flow control device and the modified ladle shroud immersion at a depth of 0.1 m in the liquid steel caused the shortest range of the transition zone among the tested cases.

Analysis of the use of the Russian materials (liquid glass and softening additives) has been made in accordance with the modern requirements for use in the technological processes of casting as binding materials in the production of large-sized steel railway casting. The reasons for poor knockout of liquid glass mixtures have been investigated. A complex action softening additive has been recommended for a better knocking-out ability. This solution provides a softening effect at the points of maximum formation of the liquid glass matrix strength in the processes of polymorphic transformation of the material under the influence of elevated temperatures as the result of filling the mold cavity by the melt. It has been shown that the use of additives of complex action leads to the decrease in the specific work of the knockout by four – seven times depending on the composition of the mixture and the design features of the casting. Experimental-industrial tests of the proposed method for softening the liquid glass mixtures have been made and the "Front Buffer Stop" casting has been made (for the rolling stock of locomotives and railway wagons). The tests confirmed the effectiveness and expediency of implementation of new liquid glass mixtures with softening additives in conditions of foundry enterprises.