The nature of silicocarbide in chill-cast high-strength magnesium irons

In the thin-wall chill-mold castings of the magnesium irons there form metastable high-silicon phases. We have detected two types of these phases, differing in their etchability in a hot caustic solution of picric acid and in their thermal stability, and having differing crystal lattice: the carbide eutectoid FemSinCx and a high-temperature phase — iron silicide Fe5Si3