A Letter To The Editorial Board

Metal Science and Heat Treatment, Vol. 52, Nos. 11 12, March, 2011 (Russian Original Nos.
. 11 12, November December, 2010)
A LETTER TO THE EDITORIAL BOARD

ABOUT THE LINE OF GRAPHITE LIQUIDUS
IN THE PHASE DIAGRAM OF Fe Fe3C ALLOYS
(Supplement to the paper About the Structure of Iron-Carbon Melts,
Metalloved. Term. Obrab. Met., 2010, No. 1)
V. M. Zalkin and V. S. Kraposhin
Translated from Metallovedenie i Termicheskaya Obrabotka Metallov, No. 12, pp. 44 45, December, 2010.
experimental studies for alloys of tens of other eutectic systems.1

One of the features of the Fe Fe3C system is the fact
that the carbon-enriched phase in a melt may be graphite or
cementite.
Even basing ourselves on general considerations we cannot expect the same probability of existence of this or that
form of carbon in a melt (cementite or graphite) in a liquid
binary alloy at absolutely similar equilibrium conditions (the
same composition, duration of hold, temperature), i.e., in total absence of the effect of any variable factor (it is unclear in
what case this or that form is more advantageous).
The form of the presence of carbon in a melt is fully determined by the laws of interaction of the components under
the given equilibrium conditions and can be only a single one
(graphite or cementite).
At the same time, the recent Fe C phase diagram admits the existence of both the former and the latter form of
carbon and reflects this circumstance by the presence of two
equilibrium liquidus lines in the phase diagram, i.e., a line of
graphite liquidus and a line of cementite liquidus.
The studies of Fe Fe3C melts (see the main paper) have
given direct and indirect experimental proofs of the fact that
the carbon-enriched phase existing in the melts under equilibrium conditions is an endothermic chemical compound,
i.e., cementite, rather than graphite (this is determined by the
interaction of the components under specific conditions).
The absence, or rather the impossibility, of an equally
probable equilibrium existence of graphite in a melt allows
us to assume that the two liquidus lines in conventional
Fe C phase diagrams (known as the graphite liquidus and
In the paper mentioned we have presented a new model

of the structure of iron-carbon melts (for the studied temperature range of 1300 1700C and carbon content in the melt
of up to 6 wt.%).
It is interesting to consider the relation between the new
model and the well-known phase diagram of Fe Fe3C alloys (treated as an independent part of the general phase diagram of Fe C alloys).
It is commonly assumed (and this can be found in any
published phase diagram of Fe C alloys) that in the region
above the liquidus line the components of the system are unlimitedly miscible and in the state of equilibrium this region
corresponds to a true liquid solution of the components.
The new model of the structure of Fe Fe3C melts differs from this concept in principle; it is a development of our
concept [1 4] on the nature of eutectics based on analysis
and generalization of results of numerous experimental studies of eutectic systems. Today this concept is can be assumed
to have been proved.
Since the present supplement sees the light several issues
later than the main paper, we will recall the main components
of the new model of the structure of Fe Fe3C melts,
namely,
(a) the true solubility of carbon in liquid iron in a comparatively wide range of above-eutectic temperatures does
not exceed 1.8 2 wt.% (i.e., is close to the maximum equilibrium solubility of carbon in austenite in the solid state);
(b) at a higher concentration of carbon in the alloy (we
studied composition with up to 6% C) the melt acquires a second carbon-enriched phase, and thus a melt with C > 2% is
not a true single-phase solution but rather is a two-phase one;
(c) the combination of physicochemical properties of the
eutectic components is responsible for self-induced formation of an equilibrium two-phase disperse system in the melt.
The mentioned characteristics of the model of the structure of Fe Fe3C melts matches fully the laws determined in
In this connection, a discussion of the model of the structure of

melts of only the Fe Fe3C system without allowance for the results of experimental studies of many other eutectic melts (by
three methods, i.e., diffraction, sedimentation, and hardening
from liquid state) seems to be counterproductive.
620
0026-0673/11/1112-0620 2011 Springer Science + Business Media, Inc.
About the Line of Graphite Liquidus in the Phase Diagram of Fe Fe3C Alloys
the cementite liquidus) contradict the true state of the melt

and its change in the beginning of hardening. It should be
stressed that the formation of cementite from a melt only in
the case of accelerated cooling does not give us grounds for
proving the existence of graphite in the melt: the structure of
a melt cannot depend on the rate of its subsequent cooling.
The graphite detected in the solid state after slow cooling of
a melt is a product of decomposition of cementite clusters
existing in the melt.
In other words, if a melt does not contain graphite under
equilibrium conditions, the phase diagram should not bear an
equilibrium line of graphite liquidus (at least in the mentioned temperature range).
621
Consequently, the results of our work show that the

phase diagram of the Fe C alloys needs correction.
REFERENCES
1. V. M. Zalkin, Nature of Eutectic Alloys and Effect of Contact
Melting [in Russian], Metallurgiya, Moscow (1987).
2. V. M. Zalkin, Some aspects of the theory of eutectic alloys in the
light of new experimental data, Metalloved. Term. Obrab. Met.,
No. 11, 2 8 (1993).
3. V. M. Zalkin, Recent state of the problem of structure of ironcarbon melts, Prots. Litya, No. 1, 3 6 (1999).
4. V. M. Zalkin, Some items of the theory of eutectic alloys, Metalloved. Term. Obrab. Met., No. 4, 3 10 (2009).

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Metal Science and Heat Treatment, Vol. 52, Nos. 11 12, March, 2011 (Russian Original Nos.

. 11 12, November December, 2010)

A LETTER TO THE EDITORIAL BOARD

experimental studies for alloys of tens of other eutectic systems.1

In the paper mentioned we have presented a new model

In this connection, a discussion of the model of the structure of

the cementite liquidus) contradict the true state of the melt

Consequently, the results of our work show that the

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