Ed, useful info on low C steel as furnace muffle at 1200C. The muffles we are using are made of a high temperature alloy, but the wedling area is the weak point. After 100-200 times of serve at 1200C, we have to change the muffle due to the leakage at welding. I am thinking welding quality may be able to be improved if using low C steel.
For the thermal expansion coeffient data, what could be the down peak at 0-1000C? somthing to do with the phase trasformation to anstenite? we know austenite is fcc, ferrite is bcc, the former has large lattice parameters. also, austenite has a higher coefficient about 24ppm/C. I expected a larger coefficient at 0-1000C, compared with 0-800C!
Carbon content is another factor to consider: carbon obviously increases lattice parameters, but the coefficient normally decreases with increasing C content, i.e. high carbon steel has a lower thermal expansion coefficient.