Effect of Bi on graphite morphology and mechanical properties of heavy section ductile cast iron

Abstract

To improve the mechanical properties of heavy section ductile cast iron, bismuth (Bi) was introduced into the iron. Five castings with different Bi content from 0 to 0.014 wt.% were prepared; and four positions in the casting from the edge to the center, with different solidification cooling rates, were chosen for microstructure observation and mechanical properties test. The effect of the Bi content on the graphite morphology and mechanical properties of heavy section ductile cast iron were investigated. Results show that the tensile strength, elongation and impact toughness at different positions in the five castings decrease with a decrease in cooling rate. With an increase in Bi content, the graphite morphology and the mechanical properties at the same position are improved, and the improvement of mechanical properties is obvious when the Bi content is no higher than 0.011wt.%. But when the Bi content is further increased to 0.014wt.%, the improvement of mechanical properties is not obvious due to the increase of chunky graphite number and the aggregation of chunky graphite. With an increase in Bi content, the tensile fracture mechanism is changed from brittle to mixture ductile-brittle fracture.

Keywords

• heavy section ductile cast iron
• Bi addition
• cooling rate
• graphite morphology
• mechanical properties