TITLE:
Effect of Melting Temperature on the Wear Characteristics of Austenitic Manganese Steel
AUTHORS:
S.A. Balogun, D.E. Esezobor, J.O. Agunsoye
KEYWORDS:
austenitic jaw crusher, manganese steel, melting temperature chrome-carbide, wear life, segregation, quenching
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Minerals and Materials Characterization and Engineering,
Vol.7 No.3,
September
20,
2008
ABSTRACT: The practice in most manganese steel melting furnace is to raise the melting and pouring
temperatures to 1500℃ and above so as to enhance fluidity of the molten metal and ease
removal of slag. High temperature promotes micro and macro carbide segregation of alloy
elements and formation of embritting transformation products. The presence of segregation at
the grain boundaries, acts as barrier to dislocation movement. This could be responsible for
uneven, inconsistent wear rate and pattern of the steel.
This paper studies the effect of pouring/melting temperature on the propensity of carbide
segregation of austenitic manganese steel and by translation on the wear characteristics of jaw
crushers.
Austenitic manganese steel (AMS) was subjected to different heat/melt temperatures
ranging from 1380 to 1550℃ (H1-H3) in an induction furnace of 1-ton capacity. Samples
obtained from the edge, middle and mounting section of the heat treated steel were examined by
means of optical metallurgical microscope and the relative abundance of elements was
determined by means of energy dispersed X-ray (EDX) elemental spectrometer. The results
indicated high segregation of alloy elements at high melting temperatures. However, uniform
dispersion of carbide particles in the base of the austenitic grains was noticed at pouring
temperature range of 1400-1500℃.