Experimental and Theoretical Research on the Corrosion Resistance of Ferrous Alloys in Aluminum Melts

The resistance of three ferrous alloys (HT150, QT500, and H13) to corrosion caused by exposure to aluminum melts has been systematically studied using experiments and modeling. Results show that the exfoliation and dissolution of intermetallic compounds like Fe2Al5 and FeAl3 formed by the interdiffusion between aluminum melts and ferrous alloys are responsible for the corrosive attack. Based on the thermodynamics and kinetics of intermetallic compounds, an analytical model has been established to quantitatively account for the corrosion behavior between the ferrous alloys and aluminum melts, and the diffusion inhibition factor lambda is first introduced in this work to quantitatively estimate the extent to which the existence of carbon can influence the diffusion of aluminum melts to the ferrous alloys. Theoretical analysis demonstrates that the flake graphite in HT150 can reduce the corrosion rate most effectively, followed by spheroidal graphite in QT500. Both outperform H13.