Materials Science and Engineering, 67 (1984) 109-117
P h a s e Equilibria and Solidification S e q u e n c e s of White Cast Irons Containing
Vanadium and Chromium
J. D. B. DE MELLO and M. DURAND-CHARRE
Institute Polytechnique de Grenoble, Ecole Nationale Superieure d'Electrochirnie et d'Electrom~tallurgie de
Grenoble, Laboratoire de Thermodynarnique et Physico-chimie M$tallurgiques, B.P. 75, Domaine Universitaire,
38402 Saint Martin D'H~res (France)
(Received May 26, 1983; in revised form February 28, 1984)
SUMMARY
White cast irons containing chromium and
with 27 different compositions (up to 6 wt.%
V) were studied. Phase identification was
carried out using microprobe analysis and
electron diffraction. Quench-interrupted uni-
directional solidification was used to study
the crystallization sequence, and the liquidus
and solidus values were determined using
differential thermal analysis. A modified
version o f this technique, quench-interrupted
differential thermal analysis, was employed in
order to establish the solidification paths.
The liquidus temperature can be adequately
represented by a second-degree polynomial
with the chromium, vanadium and carbon
contents as the variables.
A projection in the pseudoternary system
(Fe-Cr)-V-C is shown to be useful for de-
scribing the liquid composition change in
peritectic or eutectic equilibrium with austen-
ite and the various carbides M7C3, V8C5
and MzC. It provides good guidelines for ex-
plaining the solidification microstructures and
for predicting the crystallization paths and
the types and amounts o f carbides.
1. INTRODUCTION
Abrasion-resistant alloys usually contain a
large volume fraction of massive carbide par-
ticles. These massive carbides result from
solidification. They are selected for their
hardness and stability. The complex chromi-
um carbides of type M7C8 are the most com-
monly used among them. Their properties can
be fully exploited only if the embedding
matrix is itself sufficiently strong.
0025-5416/84/$3.00
109
The addition of up to 6-10 wt.% V seems
to be especially favourable [1-5] ; it gives
superior toughness and hardness. Its effect
operates in different stages. During solidifica-
tion it results in the eutectic crystallization of
vanadium carbides. Their specific hardness
[6], together with their characteristic round-
shaped morphology, appears to be particu-
larly well suited to achieving a good degree
of toughness. During heat treatment, vanadi-
um promotes secondary precipitation. It
facilitates austenite destabilization and con-
sequently the formation of martensitic or
bainitic structures. An improvement in abra-
sion resistance should be sought and its de-
pendence on the relative carbon, chromium
and vanadium contents should be investi-
gated, in order to optimize the proportions
of the various carbides.
At high chromium contents the alloy con-
rains essentially chromium carbides of M7Cs
type, even for vanadium contents up to 9 wt.%
[ 5]. Almost all the vanadium is partitioned be-
tween the matrix and the chromium carbides
where it serves no useful purpose. However,
several points need to be clarified, particu-
larly those concerning the phase diagram.
The purpose of the present paper is two-
fold: to determine the liquidus temperature
profile for a portion of the phase diagram,
and to indicate the influence of the initial
composition on the nature and properties of
the resulting phases.
2. EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH AND
PROCEDURE
2.1. Preparation of alloys
Alloy samples of mass about 100 g were
prepared under argon at a low pressure in a
© Elsevier Sequoia/Printed in The N e t h e r l a n d s
110
TABLE 1
Compositions of the alloys investigated
Alloy series A1 A2 A3
Amount (wt.%) of C 1.60 2.40 3.60
Amount (wt.%) of Cr 3.60 5.40 8.30
Each composition was prepared at three vanadium contents, 0 wt.%, 3 wt.% and 6 wt.% which are indicated as
AnV0, AnV3 and AnV6 respectively.
high frequency furnace using high purity
metals. Intermediate compositions were
melted in a small arc furnace. The composi-
tions are indicated in Table 1. The carbon
content varies from 1.6 to 3.6 wt.% and the
chromium content from 3.6 to 16.5 wt.%.
Amounts of 3 and 6 wt.% V were added to
these alloys. So for each carbon-to-chromium
ratio there are three alloys AnV0, AnV3and
AnV~ corresponding to 0 wt.% V, 3 wt.% V
and 6 wt.% V respectively.
2.2. Differential thermal analysis and quench-
interrupted solidification
Differential thermal analysis was performed
for each alloy on 2 g specimens. The rate of
cooling was 300 °C h -1. In order to determine
the sequence of formation of each phase, two
sets of experiments were carried out: (1)
quench-interrupted differential thermal
analysis controlled solidification; (2) quench-
interrupted directed solidification.
Method (1) consists of quenching the small
ingot sample at the moment when the first
eutectic crystallization begins. This is indi-
cated by the appearance of the corresponding
peak on the thermogram. The phase which
has been frozen first appears rather coarse; it
is delineated by the fine structure coming
from the quenched liquid.
Method (2) was performed on an industrial
alloy VH; its composition (2.21wt.%C-
5.99wt.%Cr-5.61wt.%V-1.04wt.%Mn-
0.72wt.%Si) is close to that of A2V6. A rod
of this alloy was obtained by unidirectional
solidification. The rate of solidification was
3.2 cm h -1 and the thermal gradient was about
80 °C cm -1. The sample was quenched during
the solidification process.
2.3. Phase determination
After the specimens had been polished and
etched using Murakami's etching reagent (10 g
A4 A5 As A7 As A9
1.60 2.40 3.50 1.60 2.40 3.20
5.40 8.60 12.90 8.30 12.40 16.50
of potassium ferricyanide, 10 g of potassium
hydroxide and 100 ml of distilled water) and
Villela's etching reagent (1 g of picric acid,
5 ml of hydrochloric acid and 100 ml of ethyl
alcohol), they were examined using a scanning
electron microscope (JEOL 35) fitted with an
energy-dispersive X-ray analysis system
(Tracor). The phase composition was deter-
mined using electron microprobe analysis.
Carbon analysis was performed at 6 kV. The
measured values were corrected using a Z
absorption fluorescence program. The matrix
analysis was performed on specimens which
had just been quenched at the end of the
solidification in order to avoid a non-homoge-
neous bainitic or pearlitic matrix. Thus the
matrix is metastable austenite.
2.4. Quantitative metallography
The microstructures of differential thermal
analysis samples which had all been solidified
at the same freezing rate were examined.
Quantitative image analyses were carried out
on series of about 12 adjacent scanning elec-
tron micrographs of each alloy. The amount
of each type of carbide (excluding the den-
drite centres which contain secondary car-
bides) was measured. These carbides are too
thin to be analysed properly.
3. RESULTS
3.1. Differential thermal analysis and quench-
interrupted solidification
The transformation temperatures are given
in Table 2. Usually, thermograms display
three peaks corresponding to the solid-liquid
transformations (the liquidus and the eutectic
crystallizations). In addition there is some-
times a large flattened peak ranging between
734 and 744 °C. It corresponds to the pearl-
itic reaction. The solidification interval AT is
 111

TABLE 2
Transformation temperatures and the phases identified for each alloy

Alloy Transformation temperatures (°C) AT a Phases identified Matrix b

(°C)
Bainite and martensite Pearlite

A1Vo 1424; 1218 744 246 7: M3C P,B

A1V3 1410 ; 1292 ; 1215 737 205 7: M6C5, M7C3 P,B
A1V6 1400; 1336 -- 107 7:M6C5 M
A2Vo 1343; 1185 737 193 ~': M3C P,B
A2V3 1340; 1235; 1205 737 165 ~/: M6C5, M7C 3 P,B
A2V6 1393; 1303; 1227 734 137 ")': M6C5, M7C 3 P,B
A3V0 1215; 1188 741 78 7: M3C P, B
A3V3 1212; 1198; 1168 734 57 7: M7C3, M3C P,B
A3V6 1245; 1218 734 69 7: M6C5, M7C3 P,B
A4Vo 1434; 1222 734 226 7:M7C3 P,B
A4V3 1400; 1275; 1225 734 189 ~': M6C5, M7C 3 P,B
A4V6 1389; 1326; 1232 -- 165 7: M6C5, M7C3 M
A5V0 1340; 1205 734 172 7:M7C3 P, B
AsV 3 1340; 1232 734 135 ~': M7C 3 P, B
AsV 6 1333; 1296; 1242 734 115 7:M6C5 + M7C3 P,B
A6V0 1245 ; 1212 734 87 7:M7C3 P, B
A6V3 1239; 1228 734 59 7: MTC 3 P,B
A6V6 1252; 1242 734 52 ~/: M6C 5 + MTC 3 P,B
A7Vo 1434; 1249 737 209 7:M7C3 P,B
AvV3 1397; 1259; 1245 734 175 7: M6C5, M7C3 P, B
ATV6 1400; 1376; 1319; 1262 -- 151 ~, ~: M6C5, MTC 3 M
A8Vo 1353; 1242 734 148 7:M7C3 P,B
A8V3 1336; 1249 734 117 ~': M7C 3 P,B
A8V6 1326; 1272; 1256 737 104 ")': M6C5, M7C 3 P,B
AgV0 1286; 1245 737 91 7:M7C3 P,B
AgV3 1275; 1225 734 63 7:M7C3 P, B
AgV6 1292; 1270 -- 70 ")': M6C5, M7C 3 M

a A T is the interval between the liquidus temperature and the temperature at the end of freezing.
bMatrix state: P, pearlite; M, martensite; B, bainite.

C B A

Fig. 1. Schematic view of a rod unidirectionally solidified and then quenched.

g i v e n i n T a b l e 2. A T is t h e d i f f e r e n c e b e t w e e n
the liquidus temperature and the temperature
a t w h i c h c o m p l e t e e u t e c t i c c r y s t a l l i z a t i o n is
a c h i e v e d , i.e. a t e m p e r a t u r e w h i c h is 1 0 - 1 5 °C
lower than the start of the last eutectic crys-
t a l l i z a t i o n a t a c o o l i n g r a t e o f 3 0 0 °C h -1.
F i g u r e 1 is a s c h e m a t i c r e p r e s e n t a t i o n o f
the microstructure that we observed for the
unidirectionally solidified rod. Crystallization
starts with dendrites (the upper zone of rod
A). Then eutectic cells of vanadium carbide
(7 p h a s e ) c r y s t a l l i z e , s t i c k i n g t o t h e d e n d r i t e s
112

in a curious manner resembling mistletoe on
a tree (middle zone B). The last remaining
liquid transforms into oriented eutectic
MvCa (7) (lower zone C). For this alloy the
transformation temperatures are 1339, 1303,
1215 and 707 °C.
The same stages in the crystallization paths
were found for all 27 alloys. In addition we
investigated a b o u t 20 industrial alloys con-
taining up to 3 wt.% Mn, up to 1 wt.% Mo
and a b o u t 0.5 wt.% Si. Again we found the
same crystallization sequence even with some
alloys which exhibit rather different micro-
structures. Figure 2 is a scanning electron
micrograph of an industrial alloy VH. Vana-
dium carbides appear as coarse particles Which
are trapped between the secondary arms of
dendrites. The proportion of primary austen-
ite seems to be larger than in the correspond-
ing alloys AsV6 and AsVs, probably because of
the presence of manganese.
3.2. Phase determination
The phases which were identified for each
composition are indicated in Table 2, as also
is the state of the matrix. Table 3 shows the
ranges of compositions for the three carbides
M7C3, V6C5 and M3C. It should be noted that
the most probable formula for the eutectic
vanadium carbide is VsC5. Table 4 indicates
the composition of the matrix. Given the un-
certainty of the microprobe measurements
for carbon analysis we may assume that the
amount of carbon in the matrix is almost the
same for all the alloys and lies between 0.8
and 0.9 wt.% (3.5 and 4 at.%). Also we note
that there is severe segregation of vanadium
during solidification and this allows the for-
mation of V8C5 (7) eutectic cells in the
dendritic groove.

3.3. Quantitative metallography

Figure 3 illustrates the morphologies of
6 wt.% V alloys for various carbon and
chromium contents. A slow solidification rate

TABLE 4
Compositions of the matrix

Alloy Cr (wt.Q) V (wt.Q) C (wt.Q)

A2V6 4.5 1.6 0.8

AsV 6 6.2 2.1
AsV 6 7.0 3.5 0.8
A7V6 7.0 3.4 0.9
AsV6 10.5 3.1 0.8
A2V3 4.4 1.6 1.0
AsV s 7.0 1.3 0.8
Fig. 2. Coarse eutectic vanadium carbides located AsV3 9.9 1.2 0.9
between the secondary arms of dendrite in an
A2Vo 4.4 0 0.9
alloy of composition 3.21wt.QC-8.37wt.QCr-
AsVo 10.4 0 1.0
0.59wt.%Mn-4.89wt.QV-0.7 lwt.QSi.

TABLE 3
Compositions of the different types of carbide

Type of carbide Fe (wt.Q (at.Q)) Cr (wt.Q (at.Q)) V(wt.Q (at.Q)) C (wt.Q (at.Q)) Approximate formula

V6C5 2-3 (1-2) 8-9 (5-6) 70-73 (46-48) 16-17 (46-49) (Vs.5Cro.4Fe0.1)C5
M7C 3 44-55 (30-41) 27-35 (20-28) 8-12 (5-10) 8 (29) (Fes.5Cr2.5V1)C 3
MsC 51-55 (40-44) 27-29 (23-25) 12 (10) 17 (24-25) (Fel.5CrVo.5)C
 113

crystallization paths are usually discussed with

reference to this ternary system. We have
previously shown that for the F e - C r - C -
3wt.%Mo alloy [7] the liquidus surface and
the crystallization paths may be compared
with the corresponding results for the Fe-
Cr-C diagram published by Jackson [8].
The two first stages of solidification, i.e.
austenite (7) and then M7C3 (7) eutectic,
remain unchanged. In the present work we
established that the introduction of vanadi-
um results in a different sequence consisting
of austenite (7), then V6C5 (7) eutectic and
finally MTC 3 (7) eutectic. Thus Jackson's
diagram is n o t suitable and therefore we pro-
pose another approach. In the primary crys-
tallization of austenite, the liquidus surface is
a continuous four-dimensional hypersurface.
We choose to represent the liquidus tempera-
Cr ture b y a polynomial of the second degree

T 50 ~ m
l I
with the compositional variables x, y and z
(where x, y and z are the carbon, chromium
and vanadium contents respectively in weight
per cent), the balance being iron. The corre-
Fig. 3. Microstructures of alloys as a function of sponding coefficients result from a least~
carbon and chromium content. squares treatment of our measured values.
The equation obtained predicts the liquidus
temperature for any composition within the
A8 following strictly defined range of composi-
MC 3.2 tions: 1-4.5 wt.% C; 3-17 wt.% Cr; 0-7 wt.%
K2 17
V.
A7 As A3 T (°C) = 1614.15 -- 102.1x -- 5.18y --
5,8 MC 5.2 MC 2,4
K2 7.8 K2 12,8 Kc+K 2 34 -- 19.9z -- 2.41x 2 + 1.07xy +
+ 6.11xz + 0.19y 2 -- 0.29yz +
A2
MC 8,7
+ 0.83z 2 (1)
K2 6,4
There is good agreement between the experi-
mental and the calculated values of the
Fig. 4. Volumetric proportion of carbides for various liquidus temperature. The difference is
chromium and vanadium contents (MC-=V6C5; K2 smaller than 5 °C which is the estimated range
M7C3, KC =-M3C).
o f experimental error.
This equation can be represented geomet-
promotes coarse structures which are easier rically in various ways. The first is shown in
to analyse. The proportions of solidification Fig. 5 which gives the liquidus temperatures
carbides are indicated in Fig. 4 in positions for a chromium content of 5.15 wt.% and var-
corresponding to the morphologies shown in ious carbon contents, 1.6, 2.4 and 3.35 wt.%,
Fig. 3. against the vanadium content. Most of these
liquidus curves display a minimum as for the
4. DISCUSSION F e - V and Cr-V systems. This minimum shifts
towards larger vanadium contents when the
4.1. Liquidus representation chromium content is increased at a given
The main c o m p o n e n t s of white cast irons carbon level. One of the lines corresponds to a
are iron, chromium and carbon; therefore carbon content of 3.25 wt.% and a chromium
114

._°°° / /
/~ ~ L/~126o
1270

ol / / / / / _ _ . . - - - J
I
o'~ 5 z /--'1240
1350- ~ % ~ ..C2.4Cr5
I .c=,c,,s
1300-
I
~ .C3.35Cr15
o*/"C3.35Cr5
, 7// ,,,

,,,*" C3.35Cr5

1250 '~/ 1 2 3
c (%)
4 5 6 7

Fig. 6. P r o j e c t i o n o f liquidus for t h e p s e u d o t e r n a r y

s y s t e m ( F e - C r ) - V - C : 0, e x p e r i m e n t a l c o m p o s i t i o n s ;

12OO, - - - , e u t e c t i c lines; . . . . , p e r i t e c t i c lines;

t h e r m a l lines.
, iso-

; ' -~ ' b " ~ ' ~ v(%)- z('c)

Fig. 5. Calculated liquidus temperature vs. the vana-
dium content in weight per cent. The experimental
values (o) obtained by Stefanescu e t al. [9] are also
shown.

- 1350

content of 5 wt.%; it belongs to the composi-

• 1300
tion range previously studied by Stefanescu
e t al. [9]. Their results are shown in Fig. 6. 1250

There is good agreement in view of the fact

- 1200
that their alloys contained up to 1 wt.% Mn
and up to 1.27 wt.% Si. It is well k n o w n that
silicon lowers the liquidus temperature by a
large amount. I/2.°
We calculated a series of liquidus lines for / It
alloys with the same chromium-to-iron ratio ,' I?3 . 5
o f 0.1 and for a given carbon level. The sur- 1 2 3 4 5 6
face generated may be considered to be the
liquidus surface for a pseudoternary system
(91wt.%Fe-9wt.%Cr)-V-C (Fig. 6). Increasing rc:(%)
the carbon content lowers the liquidus tem- Fig. 7. R e p r e s e n t a t i o n o f t h e l i q u i d u s surface f o r a
pseudoternary system (91wt.%Fe-9wt.%Cr)-V-C.
perature and flattens the m i n i m u m until there
is only a m o n o t o n i c slope near the eutectic
composition.
Another useful representation is the liqui- to Fig. 6, the proportion of chromium in iron
dus projection on a pseudoternary diagram. In being the same. The isothermal lines are de-
Fig. 7 the three variables are the carbon con- rived from eqn. (1). The eutectic line is de-
tent, the vanadium c o n t e n t and a given Fe-Cr duced from experimental results such as the
solid solution content. Figure 7 corresponds eutectic temperatures measured for nearly

eutectic alloys. The peritectic lines are placed
according to the phase that we identified in
the microstructures {Table 2). The upper part
of the eutectic line represents the crystalliza-
tion of the eutectic VeC~ (~/) and the lower
part the eutectic M~C3 (7). A peritectic line
shows the limits of the region in which MeC5
and M7C3 are formed. It is worth noting that
this diagram is rather different from a similar
representation for the Cr-V-C system [10].
The slope of the eutectic line is monotonic
and there is no three-phase eutectic.
This diagram enables us to predict the
crystallization path of the alloys. The follow-
ing conclusion results: the initial vanadium
content of the alloy must exceed a certain
a m o u n t in order to allow the crystallization
of vanadium carbides. This is an important
point since vanadium carbides have better
wear-resistant properties than chromium
carbides. However, a disadvantage of adding
vanadium is its high cost.
4.2. Phase transformations
Usually freezing occurs at too fast a rate to
leave sufficient time for achieving complete
peritectic transformation. Nevertheless, for
slowly cooled alloys we found evidence of the
transformation of carbides. Figure 8 shows
the microstructure for the differential thermal
analysis sample A3V3. The small rod-like va-
nadium carbides lie at the centre of a eutectic
Fig. 8. Microstructure of an A3V3 differential thermal
analysis sample showing rod-like vanadium carbides
encased by MTC3.
115
cell. T h e y are encased by M7C3 which has
developed epitaxially. The VeC5 has under-
gone the peritectic transformation from MeC5
to MTC 3. This interpretation fits in with our
diagram. In addition, each time that we per-
formed anneals at a rather high temperature
(1000 °C) the vanadium carbides became en-
cased by M7C3 and the smaller rods dis-
appeared.
For low chromium alloys, another transfor-
mation from M7C3 to M3C occurs. Figure 9
shows the microstructure for the A2V3 alloy;
the darker carbides are M7C3, and these are
surrounded by M3C. There is only a slight
contrast in the scanning electron micrograph
since the mean atomic numbers of the car-
bides are close to one another. As a result of
this lack of contrast, quantitative image
analysis could not be used to discriminate
between the amounts of each carbide. As
stated above, for low chromium alloys,
another peritectic transformation from M7 C3
to M3C occurs. The emergence of this carbide
M3C is consistent with Jackson's Fe-Cr-C
diagram [ 8 ].
During cooling, secondary vanadium pre-
cipitates nucleate and grow {Fig. 10). They
are spherically shaped as has often been found
for vanadium precipitates. Their growth must
be favoured by the relatively high diffusivity
of vanadium which is 50 times that of chromi-
um at 1000 °C [11, 12]. The precipitation of
vanadium carbides involved a depletion of
Fig. 9. Microstructure of an A2V3 differential thermal
analysis sample showing MTC3 embedded in M3C.
116
Fig. 10. Transformed matrix with secondary vana-
dium precipitates.
carbon, vanadium and chromium within the
matrix. It destabilizes austenite and enables it
to transform into bainite or pearlite. This
secondary precipitation occurs at rather a
high temperature since small precipitates were
detected in samples quenched from a tem-
perature of 1 2 0 0 - 1 1 0 0 °C.
4.3. Composition of the phases
The analysis of the matrix gives an estimate
of the segregation during solidification. The
partitioning ratio for chromium is about 0.8
and almost independent of the initial carbon
content. Therefore we could not deduce a
unique value of the partitioning ratio for
vanadium. The segregation is important for
this element since, with an initial content of
6 wt.% V, only 2-3 wt.% V is left in the
matrix. However, this is sufficient to provide
secondary carbide precipitates.
The analysis of chromium carbides of t y p e
M7C8 shows that they contain up to about
one atom of vanadium. This is in good agree-
ment with the results of Woodhead and
Quarrell [13] who reported that M7C3 can
dissolve vanadium up to a metal-to-carbon
atom ratio of 0.16.
Vanadium carbides in nickel binder for
cermets have been studied by Viswanadham
and Precht [14]. They established that for a
high carbon-to-metal ratio the carbides are
principally VsC7 while for a low carbon-to-
metal ratio they are V6C5 or V6C5 plus V4C3.
Our results (in particular the results of the
carbon analysis) agree with the V6C5 com-
position.
4.4. Formation of solidification carbides
One of the most useful pieces of informa-
tion is the carbide content in relation to the
initial composition of the alloy. Quantitative
image analysis provides this information.
However, it should be noted that these
analyses are rather difficult. The accuracy of
the results may be estimated to be 10%.
Nevertheless, because the errors are system-
atic for all our measurements, it is still pos-
sible to deduce a tendency in the results. At
a given initial amount of vanadium there are
more vanadium carbides if the chromium
content is low. This fact can be seen from a
comparison of the results for AsV6, AsV6 and
A2V6 in Fig. 4. For a constant chromium con-
tent of 8.3 wt.% the amount of vanadium
carbide is higher for ATVe than for A3V6 which
contains less carbon. Because the liquid be-
comes richer in vanadium during crystalliza-
tion therefore, as the solidification interval
increases, so does the quantity of rejected
vanadium which is able to provide eutectic
carbides.
In order to investigate the wear resistance
we should not ignore the role of the matrix.
Even when it has a pearlitic structure it is
rather hard since it contains many trapped
secondary precipitates. Further refinements
and developments in this area should follow.
5. CONCLUSIONS
I n the present paper, solid-liquid equilibria
were studied for a series of industrial white
cast irons containing chromium and vanadium
and for a series of F e - C r - V - C model alloys.
We determined the transformation tempera-
tures, and we characterized the phases formed,
determined their types and measured their
compositions.
The liquidus temperature can be adequately
represented by a second-degree polynomial
with the chromium, vanadium and carbon
contents in weight per cent as the variables.
In fact the variation in the liquidus tempera-
ture is not monotonic, in particular because it

exhibits a m i n i m u m with r e s p e c t to the
vanadium content.
A p r o j e c t i o n o f t h e p s e u d o t e r n a r y system
( F e - C r ) - V - C is s h o w n t o be useful for de-
scribing the liquid c o m p o s i t i o n change in
p e r i t e c t i c or e u t e c t i c equilibrium with austen-
ite and the various carbides M7C3, V6C~ and
MsC. It provides g o o d guidelines f o r explain-
ing t h e solidification m i c r o s t r u c t u r e s and for
predicting the crystallization paths and the
t y p e s and a m o u n t s o f carbides. A specially
interesting result is the k n o w l e d g e o f the
initial v a n a d i u m c o n t e n t necessary to pro-
m o t e crystallization o f v a n a d i u m carbides
which are r e q u i r e d for abrasion resistance.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
T h e a u t h o r s v e r y m u c h a p p r e c i a t e the help-
ful discussion and e n c o u r a g e m e n t o f M.
M a r a t r a y {Climax M o l y b d e n u m , France).
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1 S. Parent-Simonin and J. C. Margerie, Fonderie,
319 (1973) 15-27.
117
2 D.M. Stefanescu, D. Mitea and S. Cracium, Am.
Foundrymen's Soc. Int. Cast Met. J., (June 1976)
19-30.
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