Feasibility Study on Ultrasonic Velocity for Evaluation of Microstructure and Quality of Cast Iron

It was attempted to evaluate the microstructure and quality of various types of cast iron by ultrasonic velocity measurement. Three types of commercial gray cast iron and ductile cast iron were used for this investigation, respectively. One type of the ductile cast iron was heat-treated as a function of annealing time to produce different microstructure. Ultrasonic velocity measurement, microstructural analysis (pearlite area fraction, graphite length and nodularity), and hardness measurement were performed to find empirical correlations among these parameters. Ultrasonic velocity of ductile cast iron was markedly faster than that of gray cast iron. Ultrasonic velocity decreased with the decrease of fraction of pearlite structure. As a quality monitoring parameter of cast iron, potential of ultrasonic velocity was suggested