Abstract
It has been a major concern in the foundry that steel castings manufactured by the evaporative pattern casting process encounter the carbon pick-up problem. A carbon rich layer at the evaporative pattern cast surface is a result of interactions between the gaseous products from foamed polystyrene and the molten metal. The carburized layer with a high hardness makes it difficult to machine the casting. In this study, the influence of the density of EPS pattern and coatings on carbon pick-up phenomena of S25C and S45C commercial carbon cast steel were investigated. As the density of EPS pattern is increased, the carbon concentration of decomposed pattern is increased and the thickness of carburized layer at the surface of steel castings is increased. Also as the density of coatings is increased, the permeability of coatings is decreased and the thickness of carburized layer at the surface of steel castings is increased. S25C steel which has lower original carbon content compared to S45C steel exhibited severe carburization.
