The effect of alloy elements on the microstructure and properties of austempered ductile irons

Ductile cast iron has already demonstrated excellent mechanical properties. If given proper austempering, it can exhibit even more outstanding characteristics. The process of austempering for ductile cast iron is similar to steel, and requires an adequate completely, and then rapidly quenching the austenitizing temperature allowing the matrix of ductile iron to be austenitized completely, and then rapidly quenching the austenitized ductile iron down to 300 C--400 C. Caution is required to prevent austenite from transforming into proeutectoid ferrite or pearlite. Finally, the ductile iron must be kept in an isothermal condition for a proper length of time. Many kinds of experimental techniques such as quantitative metallography, magnetic change, dilatometry, X-ray diffraction, electrical resistivity change etc., may be used to measure the phase transformation during the austempering of ductile irons. However, the method of measuring the change of electrical resistivity, not only provides continuous and complete data, but also the time to start and to finish for both stages of the reaction can be significantly determined. In this paper, the effect of alloy elements on the microstructure and property of ADI was investigated. First, the specimens containing Mn, Cu, Ni and Mo were made separately, then a PC-controlled vacuum heat treating system was used for the heat treatments