New electroslag technology and equipment for manufacturing heels of tank-cars

Electroslag chill casting on hot-metal charge (ECCHMC) was used for casting support heels of tank-cars. The essence of the method was metal treatment of slag in a special container-mixer with subsequent pouring into immobile iron mould. Experimental device for ingot casting of total weight up to 1T and sizes of 0.64×0.64×0.11 mm was designed and manufactured. Production methods for casting the heels was worked out. The process envisaged simultaneous metal and slag smelting, supply into mixer and pouring of slag-metal melt into iron mould. Ingot quality was assessed by macrostructure and mechanical properties. Sulfur homogeneous distribution over heel thickness without liquation pronounced zones was observed. Hells metal was distinguished by high level and isotropy of mechanical properties. The microstructure was shown to be ferrite-perlite characteristic of normal low-carbon steel. The heels prepared according to the presented methods displaying high cyclic durability. The new mentioned method was less labour-consuming and expensive in comparison with generally accepted.