A Study on the Microstructures and Toughness of Fe-B Cast Alloy Containing Rare Earth.

This study investigates the effect of cerium on the microstructures, mechanical properties of medium carbon Fe-B cast alloy. The as-cast microstructure of Fe-B cast alloy consists of the eutectic boride, pearlite, and ferrite. Compared with the coarse eutectic borides in the unmodified alloy, the eutectic boride structures in the modified alloy are greatly refined. Cerium promotes the formation of CeO phase. CeO can act as effective heterogeneous nuclei of primary austenite, and refine austenite and boride. After heat treatment, the impact toughness of the modified alloy is higher than that of the unmodified alloy because there are more broken borides in the modified alloy. Meanwhile, the fracture mechanism of medium carbon Fe-B alloy is depicted and analyzed by using fractography. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]