This paper presents the characterization of a secondary cone crusher concave liner made of Hadfield steel used in Chilean mining after crushing copper minerals during all service life. During use, a cone crusher concave liner suffers indentation (cold working) and abrasion; this combination provides the concave with a layer that constantly renews itself, maintaining a surface highly resistant to abrasive wear. The results presented here were obtained using optical microscopy, microhardness test, measuring abrasion using the dry sand/rubber wheel apparatus, and x-ray diffraction peaks analysis through the classic Williamson–Hall method. After analysis of results, two hardened surfaces have been found—one a product of heat treatment and the other due to deformation during use. This work proposes ways to explain them; the first one uses a thermodynamic model to calculate stacking fault energy, and the second compares the liner with cold-rolled samples.

The microstructure of the coating during hot-dip galvanizing under industrial conditions of two structural steels, a low-silicon ASTM A36 steel and a high-silicon Q345B steel, both of commercial grade, have been characterized for industrial-relevant times. In both cases, it is noted that the formation of the Fe–Zn phases begins in the early stages in the heating step of the steel, a situation in which all the phases are in the solid state. These last observations have been taken into consideration and the microstructures of short times are analyzed, showing that the effect of silicon is present at longer times. The characterization was carried out through traditional metallographic techniques including SEM-EDS and XRD equipment. The evolution in time of the microstructure of both steels is examined, being able to observe that the mechanism by which silicon accelerates the formation of Fe–Zn phases in galvanizing is related to the presence of the liquid phase in contact with the ζ layer formed in earlier times, accumulating silicon in the ζ–liquid interphase. These results are directing the analysis towards proposing the hypothesis of a mechanism of penetration of the liquid phase through ζ–ζ boundaries by variations in the surface free energies that allow the penetration of the liquid phase according to the Gibbs Smith condition. Finally, the observations provided us with a deeper understanding of the phase evolution in the hot-dip galvanizing of high silicon steels.

This article investigated the influence of copper (Cu) and nickel (Ni) on atmospheric corrosion in gray cast iron under simulated marine conditions. The goal was to compare the effect of Cu and Ni addition in castings with weathering steels. Selected alloys were cast, cut, prepared, and heat-treated for microstructure homogenization. Accelerated corrosion tests were conducted using a salt spray chamber. Corroded samples were analyzed for corrosion thickness and deposits using scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and electrochemical techniques. The results indicate that alloying elements significantly affect corrosion processes. In the long-term, Cu had a greater impact on the corrosion mechanisms than Ni. Both Cu and Ni exhibited similar effects on the corrosion mechanisms in gray cast iron and weathering steels. In the initial and final stages, the behavior was comparable to that of weathering steels, but in the intermediate stage, it differed from the literature, suggesting the presence of an additional mechanism between these stages.

The microstructure of the coating during hot-dip galvanizing under industrial conditions of two structural steels, a low-silicon ASTM A36 steel and a high-silicon Q345B steel, both of commercial quality, have been characterized for industrial-relevant times. For both cases it is noted that the formation of the Fe-Zn phases begins in early stages during the heating of the steel, a situation in which all the phases are in the solid state. The characterization was carried out through traditional metallographic techniques including SEM-EDS and DRX equipment. The evolution in time of the microstructure of both steels is examined, being able to observe that the mechanism by which silicon accelerates the formation of Fe-Zn phases in galvanizing is related to the change in the energy of the interfaces caused by a silicon accumulation in the liquid phase in contact with the ζ layer. These results provided us with a deeper understanding of the phase evolution in the hot-dip galvanizing of high silicon steels.