Formation of and Changes in Carbides in Iron-Carbon Alloys under Concentrated Energy Fluxes

The effect of concentrated energy fluxes (CEF) on graphite inclusions and carbides in steel and cast iron is investigated. Experimental data are used to show that the carbides and the graphite can be treated as metastable phases. Diffraction analysis of gray cast iron and steel Kh12 is used to show that their structure acquires a nonequilibrium “baikovit” eutectic due to plasma-arc CEF followed by heat treatment. The effect of tempering on the changes in the nonequilibrium structure is studied.