How does carbon make cast iron flow easily into a mold compared to steel?

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How does carbon make cast iron flow easily into a mold compared to steel?

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3 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Kind of hard to explain without the phase diagrams and understanding of them, but essencially, the contents of carbon change how the atoms of iron and carbon form structures, and also the temperatures at which they melt/solidify. Cast irons have lower melting points compared to steels, which is one of the reasons why cast iron is better.

Not so related to the flow, but with steel, there’s many structural changes the material undergoes while cooling, and the rate of cooling often has to be controlled, meanwhile, with cast iron, there’s less variations.

Apparently, steel also shrinks as it cools, which makes casting a little more problematic.

Why doesn’t the steel just undergo heat treatments after being cast, I’m not sure.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Kind of hard to explain without the phase diagrams and understanding of them, but essencially, the contents of carbon change how the atoms of iron and carbon form structures, and also the temperatures at which they melt/solidify. Cast irons have lower melting points compared to steels, which is one of the reasons why cast iron is better.

Not so related to the flow, but with steel, there’s many structural changes the material undergoes while cooling, and the rate of cooling often has to be controlled, meanwhile, with cast iron, there’s less variations.

Apparently, steel also shrinks as it cools, which makes casting a little more problematic.

Why doesn’t the steel just undergo heat treatments after being cast, I’m not sure.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Kind of hard to explain without the phase diagrams and understanding of them, but essencially, the contents of carbon change how the atoms of iron and carbon form structures, and also the temperatures at which they melt/solidify. Cast irons have lower melting points compared to steels, which is one of the reasons why cast iron is better.

Not so related to the flow, but with steel, there’s many structural changes the material undergoes while cooling, and the rate of cooling often has to be controlled, meanwhile, with cast iron, there’s less variations.

Apparently, steel also shrinks as it cools, which makes casting a little more problematic.

Why doesn’t the steel just undergo heat treatments after being cast, I’m not sure.