Effect of Cerium on the Viscosity of Liquid Fe-C Alloy of Eutectic Content

The viscosities of liquid Fe-4.30C and Fe-4.30C-Ce alloys were measured by oscillating crucible viscometer. The results show that viscosity of Fe-4.30C alloy changes from 5.50 to 8.30 MPa·s when the liquid is cooled from 1425 ℃ to the melting point. The abnormity of viscosity of Fe-4.30C alloy near the melting point is reasonable due to the formation of graphite. The addition of cerium especially with content higher than 0.21% causes an evidently decrease in viscosity for eutectic alloy resulting from increase of free volume and size decrease of atom cluster in the liquids. It can be concended that the existence of C-Ce compound contributes to the discontinuous of viscosity at 1340～1370 ℃ for the Fe-4.30C-Ce alloy by experinments with differential scanning calorimeter.