Metal Science and Heat Treatment, Vol. 53, Nos. 1 – 2, May, 2011 (Russian Original Nos.

1 – 2, January – February, 2011)

STRUCTURAL STEELS
UDC 669.14.018.258

STRUCTURE AND PROPERTIES OF HIGH-CARBON STEEL CAST PELLETS

S. V. Grachev,1 O. V. Zhuikov,2 V. P. Gvozdovskii,2 E. S. Matsneva,1 and D. I. Vichuzhanin3

Translated from Metallovedenie i Termicheskaya Obrabotka Metallov, No. 2, pp. 9 – 13, February, 2011.

The structure and properties of high-carbon steel cast pellets 2.0 – 2.2 mm in diameter obtained by dispersing
liquid steel by a water jet under pressure are studied. The content of martensite in the cast pellets is determined
and the microstructure after various variants of heat treatment is studied. The microhardness of the pellets is
measured after each variant of treatment and the respective histograms are plotted. Compressive tests until
failure are performed.

Key words: high-carbon steel, metallic pellets, hardening for martensite, tempering, microhard-
ness, structure, normalizing.

INTRODUCTION wear of the equipment. The third method of dispersing with

Metallic (steel and iron) cast pellets have found wide use
in various fields of engineering. Most frequently cast pellets
are used for surface cleaning of ingots or parts from scale
and for surface hardening. Other applications of cast pellets
include drilling, welding production (as granulated filling
material), materials science (as a reinforcing phase in com-
posites and in hot isostatic pressing of high-strength articles),
power industry (for biological protection), production of
building materials (for cutting and grinding of stone), etc. In
developed countries the production of steel cast pellets with
high operating properties is higher than that of iron pellets.
The methods of production of metallic cast pellets differ
[1, 2]. The main processes for dispersing metallic melts are
as follows:
(1) mechanical disintegration of a stream of liquid metal;
(2) dispersing with the help of centrifugal forces;
(3) dispersing by water or air jets and injector spraying.
The first two methods of dispersing of metallic melts are
more suitable for fabrication of iron pellets. The temperature
of molten iron is lower than that of steel, and this lowers the
1
Ural State Federal University in the Name of the First President
of Russia B. N. Eltsyn, Ekaterinburg, Russia.
2 cific conditions (the content of carbon, the rate of crystalliza-
Ural Electrometallurgical Plant, Nizhny Tagil, Russia.
3
Institute for Mechanical Engineering of the Ural Branch of the
Russian Academy of Sciences, Ekaterinburg, Russia (e-mail:
mmm@imach.uran.ru).
water or air jets is used for making both iron and steel pellets.
When a stream of liquid metal is dispersed by water or air
jets, the formed metallic drops are spheroidized and cooled
in water. There are data that the pellets crystallize prior to
getting into the water coolant [3]. The properties of metallic
cast pellets are characterized by considerable scattering
within one batch [3, 4]. In this connection, estimation of the
structure and properties of cast pellets requires testing of a
large enough number of pellets and plotting of histograms.
Today cast pellets are tested for Wickers hardness and for
compression until failure. The structure of cast pellets is
commonly represented by martensite or by martensite and
bainite. A typical structure is coarse-crystal martensite and
retained austenite. The carbon content in steel cast pellets is
usually ³ 0.8%. Second hardening and tempering improve
the properties of steel cast pellets. Second hardening refines
the acicular structure of the martensite, lowers the scattering
of the hardness values and of the compressive load at failure,
and decreases the brittleness of the pellets and their breaking
in operation. At high carbon contents (> 1.3%) the content of
retained austenite in the structure of the pellets increases due
to lowering of the martensite points Mi and Mf . Under spe-
tion) the content of retained austenite in the structure of the
pellets can be close to 100%. Isothermal formation of
martensite is possible in such retained austenite.

57
0026-0673/11/0102-0057 © 2011 Springer Science + Business Media, Inc.
58 S. V. Grachev et al.

à b

8 5
c d
Number of cases

Number of cases
4
6
3
4
2
2
1

0 0
480 530 580 630 680 730 780 830 880 930 980 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0
Microhardness, HV Load, kN

Fig. 1. Structure (a, b, ´ 200) and histograms of the values of microhardness (c) and of compressive load
at failure (d ) for high-carbon steel pellets containing 1.97% C: a) initial state; b – d ) after 2-year isother-
mal hold at 20°C.

METHODS OF STUDY
We studied steel cast pellets fabricated from rail scrap
with composition 0.8% C, 0.73% Mn, 0.40% Si. The scrap
was melted in an IST 2/1-0.5 induction furnace. The tempe-
rature of the melt was 1600°C. In order to bring the carbon
content in the melt to 1.8 – 1.8%, the melt was enriched addi-
tionally with coke. The final chemical composition of the
pellets was as follows: 1.87% C, 0.69% Mn, 0.82% Si. The
diameter of the pellets was 2.0 – 2.2 mm. A stream of liquid
steel was dispersed by a water jet at a pressure of about
105 Pa. Drops of liquid metal fell into a special vessel with
water, where they were finally crystallized and hardened.
The spherical shape of the pellets was controlled by the pres-
sure of the water jet fed into the stream of liquid metal. After
water cooling, the cast pellets were transferred into a
fluidized-bed facility by an electromagnet. The fluidized
bed was blown with furnace gases at a temperature of
100 – 120°C. It should be noted that the material of the
fluidized bed was the pellets themselves. In order to deter-
mine the content of martensite in the cast pellets, we used
x-ray diffraction analysis in a Dron-2 diffractometer. The
microhardness was determined using a PMT-3 device at a
load of 0.5 N. The failure load in the compressive tests was
measured using an INSTRON 8801 machine. The micro-
structure of the pellets after different kinds of heat treatment
was studied using a Neophot-2 light microscope. After each
variant of treatment we tested 40 – 50 pellets and plotted his-
tograms of their microhardness and the compressive load at
failure. In addition, we tested pellets after second hardening
and tempering for 20 min at 200 – 500°C and after norma-
lizing.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Figure 1a presents the structure of an initial cast pellet.
The structure consists primarily of retained austenite and a
low amount of carbides of ledeburitic origin. Diffraction
analysis has shown that the content of martensite in the ini-
tial cast pellets fluctuates within 5 – 7%. Such pellets are not
magnetic and cannot be transferred by an electromagnet.
Their mean hardness is 200 – 290 HV50, which corresponds
to the hardness of high-carbon austenite. Figure 5b presents
the microstructure of high-carbon pellets after a two-year
hold at 20 – 25°C. The microstructure is represented by
coarse-crystal martensite against the background of retained
austenite. After the two-year hold at room temperature the
content of martensite has increased to 20% (Fig. 2a and b ).
The microhardness of the pellets in cast untempered state has
increased markedly and ranges mostly within 630 – 790 HV50
(Fig. 1c ). The failure load in compressive tests exhibits high
scattering (Fig. 2d ).
Structure and Properties of High-Carbon Steel Cast Pellets 59

à b

7 6
6 c d
5
Number of cases

Number of cases
5 4
4
3
3
2 2
1 1
0 0
500 540 580 620 660 700 740 780 240 270 300 330 360 390 420 450 480 510
Microhardness, HV Microhardness, HV

5 6
e f
Number of cases

Number of cases

4 5
4
3
3
2
2
1 1
0 0
1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5 5.0 5.5
Load, kN Load, kN

Fig. 2. Structure (a, b, ´ 200) and histograms of the values of microhardness (c, d ) and of compressive
load at failure (e, f ) for steel cast pellets after tempering: a, c, e) at 200°C; b, d, f ) at 500°C.

Figure 2a and b present the structure and Figure 2c – f
present the properties of the tempered pellets. The high val-
ues of the microhardness of the cast pellets (obtained by dis-
persing the melt in water) are preserved after tempering
without preliminary hardening (Fig. 2c and d ). For example,
the microhardness of the pellets even after tempering at
500°C ranges within 360 – 450 HV50. The failure load in
compressive tests (Fig. 2e and f ) also remains high after tem-
pering at 500°C. However, the acicular structure of the
martensite with segregations of secondary carbides in the
form of a net or in the body of grains is preserved after tem-
pering (Fig. 2a and b ).
Repeated hardening from 850 – 1000°C followed by
tempering is accompanied by refining of the crystal structure
of martensite both after the hardening and after the temper-
ing (Fig. 3a – c). Hardening from 850°C and low-tempera-
ture tempering yield a finer martensite structure and lower
scattering of the values of the microhardness (Fig. 3d – f ).
It is interesting to study the properties and the structure
of high-carbon steel cast pellets after normalizing. We per-
formed normalizing of cast pellets at 850 and 1000°C. The
structure of the pellets after normalizing is presented in
Fig. 4a and b; the values of the microhardness are presented
in Fig. 4c and d. The data of the figures show that the micro-
hardness of the pellets after normalizing is comparable with
the hardness after hardening and tempering. This gives us
grounds to replace the operations of hardening and temper-
ing in some cases by a singe heat treatment operation of nor-
malizing.
CONCLUSIONS
1. The structure of high-carbon cast steel pellets may
consist of 100% retained austenite.
2. Holding of cast pellets at room temperature produces
martensite, and the microhardness of the pellets increases
markedly.
3. It is possible to replace hardening and tempering of
high-carbon steel pellets by a single operation of normalizing.
60 S. V. Grachev et al.

à b c

6 8 8
d e 7 f

Number of cases
5
Number of cases
Number of cases

6 6
4 5
3 4 4
2 3
2 2
1 1
0 0 0
350 430 510 590 670 750 830 650 710 770 830 890 450 510 570 630 690
Microhardness, HV Microhardness, HV Microhardness, HV

Fig. 3. Structure (a – c) and histograms of the values of microhardness (d – f ) for steel pellets after heat treatment: a, d ) second harden-
ing from 850°C; b, e) hardening from 850°C and tempering at 200°C; c, f ) hardening from 850°C and tempering at 500°C.

à b

8 14
7 c 12 d
Number of cases

Number of cases

6 10
5
8
4
3 6
4
Fig. 4. Structure (a, b ) and histo-
2
grams of the values of microhard-
1 2
ness (c, d ) for steel pellets after nor-
0 0
250 290 330 370 410 450 490 250 310 370 430 490 550 610 malizing at a temperature of: a, c)
Microhardness, HV Microhardness, HV 850°C; b, d ) 1000°C.

REFERENCES 3. S. V. Grachev, L. A. Mal’tseva, O. V. Zhuikov, et al., “Effect of

heat treatment on the structure and properties of cast steel pel-
1. S. S. Zatulovskii and L. A. Mudruk, Fabrication and Use of Me- lets,” Metalloved. Term. Obrab. Met., No. 4, 25 – 28 (2006).
tallic Pellets [in Russian], Metallurgiya, Moscow (1988), 182 p. 4. S. V. Grachev, L. A. Mal’tseva, O. V. Zhuikov, et al., “Production
2. F. T. Efimov and N. G. Frolov, Metallic Pellets and Sand. Production and properties of steel cast pellets with high strength,” Izv. Vysh.
and Applications [in Russian], Mashgiz, Moscow (1963), 114 p. Ucheb. Zaved., Neft’ Gaz, No. 1, 93 – 97 (2006).