High Cr white cast iron/carbon steel bimetal liner by lost foam casting with liquid-liquid composite process

Liners in wet ball mill for mineral processing industry must bear abrasive wear and corrosive wear, and consequently, the service life of the liner made from traditional materials, such as Hadfield steel and alloyed steels, is typically less than ten months. Bimetal liner, made from high Cr white cast iron and carbon steel, has been successfully developed by using liquid-liquid composite lost foam casting process. The microstructure and interface of the composite were analyzed using optical microscope, SEM, EDX and XRD. Micrographs indicate that the boundary of bimetal combination regions is staggered like dogtooth, two liquid metals are not mixed, and the interface presents excellent metallurgical bonding state. After heat treatment, the composite liner specimens have shown excellent properties, including hardness 〉 61 HRC, fracture toughness ak 〉16.5 J.cm2 and bending strength 〉1,600 MPa. Wear comparison was made between the bimetal composite liner and alloyed steel liner in an industrial hematite ball mill of WISCO, and the results of eight-month test in wet grinding environment have proved that the service life of the bimetal composite liner is three times as long as that of the alloyed steel liner.