A Bidimensional Finite Element Study of Crack Propagation in Austempered Ductile Iron

Austempered ductile iron(ADI)is composed of an ausferritic matrix with graphite nodules and has a wide range of applications because of its high mechanical strength,fatigue resistance,and wear resistance compared to other cast irons.The amount and size of the nodules can be controlled by the chemical composition and austenitizing temperature.As the nodules have lower stiffness than the matrix and can act as stress concentrators,they influence crack propagation.However,the crack propagation mechanism in ADI is not yet fully understood.In this study,we describe a numerical investigation of crack propagation in ADIs subjected to cyclic loading.The numerical model used to calculate the stress intensity factors in the material under the given conditions is built with the aid of Abaqus commercial finite element code.The crack propagation routine,which is based on the Paris law,is implemented in Python.The results of the simulation show that the presence of a nodule generates a shear load on the crack tip.Consequently,even under uniaxial tensile loading,the presence of the nodule yields a non-zero stress intensity factor in mode II,resulting in a deviation in the crack propagation path.This is the primary factor responsible for changing the crack propagation direction towards the nodule.Modifying the parameters,for example,increasing the nodule size or decreasing the distance between the nodule and crack tip,can intensify this effect.In simulations comparing two different ADIs with the same graphite fraction area,the crack in the material with more nodules reaches another nodule in a shorter propagation time(or shorter number of cycles).This suggests that the high fatigue resistance observed in ADIs may be correlated with the number of nodules intercepted by a crack and the additional energy required to nucleate new cracks.In summary,these findings contribute to a better understanding of crack propagation in ADIs,provide insights into the relationship between the presence of nodules and the fatigue resistance of these materials,and support studies that associate the increased fatigue resistance with a higher number of graphite nodules.These results can also help justify the enhanced fatigue resistance of ADIs when compared to other cast irons.

Effect of alloying elements on austempered ductile iron(ADI) properties and its process:Review

Austempered ductile iron(ADI) parts have a unique combination of high strength and toughness with excellent design flexibility and low cost. These excellent properties are directly related to its microstructure called "ausferrite" that is the result of austempering heat treatment applied to ductile irons. Alloying elements increase ADI austemperability and change speeds of austempering reactions. Thus, they can affect ADI resultant microstructure and mechanical properties. In this paper, the effects of alloying elements on ADI mechanical properties, microstructural changes, two-stage austempering reactions, processing windows, austemperability, and other aspects are reviewed.

Effect of Si, Al and Bi on Structure and Properties of As-welded and Austempered Ductile Iron Weld Metals during Gas Welding

Effect of Si, Al and Bi on the microstructure and mechanical properties of as-welded and austempered ductile iron weld metals has been studied with SEM, TEM, X-ray diffraction, image analysing system, tension and other test methods. Results show that increasing weld Si, Al and Bi content favours improving the chilling tendency of as-welded ductile iron weld and mechanical properties of austempered ductile iron weld and the mechanism is also discussed. On this basis the optimum chemical composition of weld is determined. The mechanical properties of weld and welded joint after austempering can match those of austempered ductile

Design and control of chemical compositions for high-performance austempered ductile iron

This paper presents the effects of chemical compositions of austempered ductile iron(ADI)on casting quality,heat treatment process parameters and mechanical properties of final products.Through experiment and production practice,the impacts of carbon equivalent on ADI and its mechanical properties have been studied. Proper content ranges for carbon and silicon have been obtained to avoid ADI casting shrinkage and graphite floatation,as well as to achieve the optimal mechanical properties.According to the impact of silicon content on austenite phase transformation,the existing form of carbon in ADI has been analyzed,and also the formula and diagram showing the relationship between austenitizing temperature and carbon content in austenite have been deduced.The chemical composition range for high performance ADI and its control points have been recommended, to serve as a reference for production process.

Dry sliding wear of Ni alloyed austempered ductile iron

Measurements of dry sliding wear are presented for ductile irons with composition Fe-3.56C-2.67Si-0.25Mo-0.5Cu and Ni contents of 0.8 and 1.5 in wt.% with applied loads of 50, 100 and 150 N for austempering temperatures of 270, 320, and 370 °C after austenitizing at 870 °C for 120 min. The mechanical property measurements show that the grades of the ASTM 897M: 1990 Standard can be satisfied for the selected austempering conditions. The results show that wear resistance is independent of austempering temperature with an applied load of 50 N, but there is a strong dependence at higher austempering temperatures with applied loads of 100 and 150 N. Observations indicate that wear is due to subsurface fatigue with cracks nucleated at deformed graphite nodules.

Impact toughness and fracture toughness of austempered ductile iron

The Impact toughness and fracture toughness of Austempered Ductile Iron (ADI) are described. The notched and un-notched Charpy impact toughness of ADI at room temperature are somewhat lower than that of steel castings or forged steel pieces, however, they are approximately three times higher than that of normal pearlitic ductile iron. The impact toughness of ADI decreases with decreasing temperature; but at-40℃ it still maintains about 70% of the value at room temperature. The properties of fracture toughness are important in safety design and failure analysis. In this study all fracture toughness data of ADI are higher than that of conventional ductile iron, and are equivalent to or better than that of steel castings or forged steel pieces with the tensile strength equivalent to ADI.

Mechanical properties of vanadium-alloyed austempered ductile iron for crankshaft applications

This study focused on the development of austempered ductile iron(ADI)with desirable combination of mechanical properties for crankshaft applications by the combined effect of vanadium(V)alloying and an optimized heat treatment process.The produced unalloyed GGG60,0.15%V-alloyed GGG60(V-15),and 0.30%V-alloyed GGG60 samples were subjected to austenitizing at 900℃for 1 h and subsequent austempering processes at 250,300,and 350℃for 15,30,60,90,and 180 min.As a result of these austempering processes,different bainitic structures were obtained,which led to the formation of diverse combinations of mechanical properties.The mechanical properties of the austempered samples were tested comprehensively,and the results were correlated with their microstructures and the stability of the retained austenite phases.From the microstructural observations,the V-alloyed samples exhibited a finer microstructure and a more acicular ferrite phase than unalloyed samples.The V addition delayed the coarsening of the acicular ferrite structures and considerably contributed to the improvement of the mechanical properties of GGG60.Moreover,the X-ray diffraction results revealed that the retained austenite volume and the carbon enrichment of austenite phases in ADI samples were remarkably affected by the addition of vanadium.The increase in volume fraction of retained austenite and its carbon content provided favorable ductility and toughness to V-15,as confirmed by the elongation and impact test results.Consequently,the dual-phase ausferrite microstructure of V-15 that was austempered at 300℃for 60 min exhibited high strength with substantial ductility and toughness for crankshaft applications.

Effect of austempering parameters on microstructure and mechanical properties of horizontal continuous casting ductile iron dense bars

In the present research, the orthogonal experiment was carried out to investigate the influence of different austempering process parameters(i.e. austenitizing temperature and time, and austempering temperature and time) on microstructure and mechanical properties of LZQT500-7 ductile iron dense bars with 172 mm in diameter which were produced by horizontal continuous casting(HCC). The results show that the major factors influencing the hardness of austempered ductile iron(ADI) are austenitizing temperature and austempering temperature. The fraction of retained austenite increases as the austenitizing and austempering temperatures increase. When austenitizing temperature is low, acicular ferrite and retained austenite can be effi ciently obtained by appropriately extending the austenitizing time. The proper austmepering time could ensure enough stability of retained austenite and prevent high carbon austenite decomposition. The optimal mechanical properties of ADI can be achieved with the following process parameters: austenitizing temperature and time are 866 °C and 135 min, and austempering temperature and time are 279 °C and 135 min, respectively. The microstructure of ADI under the optimal austempering process consists of fi ne acicular ferrite and a small amount of retained austenite, and the hardness, tensile strength, yield strength, elongation and impact toughness of the bars are HBW 476, 1670 MPa, 1428 MPa, 2.93% and 25.7 J, respectively.