IDENTIFICATION OF METALLURGICAL MANUFACTURING FACTORS WITH A SIGNIFICANT EFFECT ON THE FLEXURAL STRENGTH OF MOTTLED Ni-HARD CAST IRONS THROUGH A DESIGN OF EXPERIMENTS APPROACH

The aim of this paper was to identify the metallurgical manufacturing factors that have a significant effect on the flexural strength of mottled Ni-hard cast irons inoculated with FeB by means of a design of experiments approach. These irons constitute the outer layer of duplex work rolls manufactured by centrifugal casting. The approach method was a saturated design of experiments with seven factors, eight experiments and resolution III. The experimental method allowed us to establish the manufacturing parameters that provide increased flexural strength and enhanced material toughness. Among these parameters, it is worth noting that high liquidus temperatures and low cooling rates during solidification lead to an increase in flexural strength and the enhancement of material toughness.