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Originally Posted by Fruityloops31  I'm a bit confused on this matter, when steel is melted does it not it revert back to iron?
how would this process be done. I am familiar with lost wax castings, but not with steel.
(jodysamson.com/axes.htm)
these are some beautiful axes and i would like to try casting steel into forms like these! |
For all intents and purposes, you can't cast steel outside of a massive, expensive foundry setup. Even if you did cast something out of a high-carbon steel (feasible but not easy) it would be very brittle. The higher the carbon content, the lower the melting point. Ergo 'cast iron' (2.2-4% carbon) is easiest to cast of the iron alloys. High carbon steels are next (.6-2.2% carbon) and then the medium steels (.3-.6) and the mild steels (.2-.3). The higher the level of carbon in an iron alloy, the brittler it is. You can anneal a casting to make it tougher (less brittle) but it's not really worthwhile for your application.
It's entirely possible to cast 'cast iron' (2.2-4% carbon) in your back garden, as well as various non-ferrous metals such as brass, bronze, copper, lead, tin etc. Aluminium is a good candidate for a wall-hanger/display item since it melts relatively easily, it's got a low density, is readily available as scrap and is shiny. There are many safety aspects involved -- one drop of water in a crucible and you've got a molten metal explosion.