Influence of Alloying Elements on the Thixoformability of a Chromium Steel

This paper deals with the examination of the influence of alloying elements on the thixoformability of a chromium steel. It focuses on the liquid fraction curves of various chromium steels with and without modification of composition. The liquid fraction versus temperature has been obtained by MTData, a thermodynamic prediction package, and by Differential Thermal Analysis (DTA), limited to low heating rates. The correlation between liquid fraction and temperature has been studied. The effect of modifications of composition and of heating rate was observed. First, the thermodynamical calculations allow the study of the influence of alloying elements with variations in chemical composition. Secondly, the DTA tests offer the possibility to observe the influence of heating rate on liquid fraction curve parameters. All these results lead to the identification of the initial parameters necessary to perform inductive heating and quenching tests, and so to approach the industrial process.