Effect of carbon, silicon, manganese, phosphorus and sulfur on the properties of pig iron

Carbon (C): in the presence of two forms of pig iron, one is free carbon (graphite), mainly in the cast iron, the other is a carbon compound (iron carbide), mainly in the steel making pig iron, The iron carbide is hard and brittle, and the plasticity is low. The content can increase the strength and hardness of the pig iron. If the content is too much, the pig iron is difficult to be cut and processed, which is the reason for the poor cutting performance of the steel pig iron. Graphite is very soft and has low strength, and its presence can increase the casting properties of pig iron.
Silicon (Si): It can promote the separation of carbon contained in pig iron into graphite, can deoxidize, reduce the gas eye of castings , improve the fluidity of molten pig iron, reduce the shrinkage of castings, but contains too much silicon. It will also make the pig iron hard and brittle.
Manganese (Mn): soluble in ferrite and cementite. When the pig iron is refined in the blast furnace, the manganese content is appropriate, which can improve the casting performance and cutting performance of the pig iron. In the blast furnace, manganese can also form manganese sulfide with harmful impurities and enter the slag.
Phosphorus (P): It is a harmful element, but phosphorus can increase the fluidity of molten iron. This is because sulfur reduces the melting point of pig iron, so it is often high in some products. However, the presence of phosphorus increases the hard and brittleness of iron. The excellent phosphorus content of pig iron should be small. Sometimes, in order to increase the fluidity, the phosphorus content can reach 1.2%.
Sulfur (S): It is a harmful element in pig iron. It promotes the combination of iron and carbon, makes iron hard and brittle, and synthesizes low-melting iron sulfide with iron, which makes hot iron brittle and reduces the fluidity of molten iron. Pig iron with high sulfur content is not suitable for casting fine parts. The content of sulfur in foundry pig iron shall not exceed 0.06%.

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