Effects of Cu and Other Tramp Elements on Steel Properties. Solid/Liquid Equilibria in Fe-Cu Based Ternary Systems.

Abstract

The effect of alloying elements on the solubility of copper in solid iron has been investigated by using solid-liquid diffusion couples. An addition of cobalt, nickel, and aluminum results in an increase of the solubility of Cu, while that of vanadium, chromium, manganese, silicon, and tin decreases the solubility. Thermodynamic calculation of the solid/liquid phase equilibria in the Fe-Cu-X ternary system has been also performed, where a set of thermodynamic parameters of solid and liquid phases has been evaluated. Furthermore, the equation that describes the change of the solubility of Cu in solid Fe with an addition of alloying elements has been derived by thermodynamic analysis of these experimental values.