Evolution of structure and properties of iron–carbon alloys produced by aluminothermy at differentiation of fractional composition of charge materials

Abstract

The growth of industrial production and the development of competitively priced, high-quality products for global markets are driven by the economically justified adoption of high technology, the use of accessible and cost-effective secondary materials, and the establishment of efficient production and distribution schemes. The metallurgical industry, which consumes significant energy and material resources while generating large volumes of challenging-to-recycle waste, also requires the gradual integration of innovative solutions to reduce production costs for metal products. A promising approach to address some of the existing challenges in the iron and steel industry is the aluminothermic process, based on redox reactions in thermite mixtures at temperatures exceeding those used in conventional electrometallurgical melting. This method significantly reduces energy consumption in metal production. In addition, it facilitates the incorporation of metallurgical and mechanical engineering waste into thermite compositions, thereby reducing reliance on expensive and scarce charge materials. The properties of the resulting alloys can be regulated through the parameters of the aluminothermic process, which primarily depend on the characteristics of the raw materials used to form the thermite mixtures. One approach to tailoring the properties of the final materials involves varying the fractional compositions of the reducing agent (RA) and mill scale (MS), which affects the combustion temperature, reaction rate, structure, elemental composition, and crystallization and cooling conditions of the billets. The findings demonstrate the feasibility of effectively managing the properties of alloys produced by aluminothermy. The results, presented as graphical dependencies, photomaterials, and conclusions, hold significant scientific and practical value for enterprises in various processing industries.