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Fracture toughness behaviour of ferritic ductile cast iron

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Abstract

The static rate fracture toughness of a series of eight heats of ductile cast iron has been measured. Samples from each heat were tested in a heat treated condition which produced a fully ferritic matrix. The dominant influence of carbide (primarily in e pearlitic form) in controling the fracture toughness was thus eliminated in this study. The chemical composition and the microstructural feature size has also been measured directly from each specimen tested. A multiple linear regression method was used to establish a simple mathematical relationship between fracture toughness and the composition and microstructure. Fracture toughness was found to be strongly associated with the spacing (or size) of the graphite nodules in these fully ferritic ductile cast irons. Other features, including the composition, the ferrite grain size, or the amount of graphite (over the ranges examined), did not strongly influence the fracture toughness. Fracture toughness also did not correlate with tensile properties (i.e. strength or ductility) in these alloys. The results of this work can be used to develop an appropriate quality control program for applications which require assurance against fracture toughness related failures.

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Abbreviations

YS :

0.2% offset yield strength (MPa)

UTS :

Ultimate tensile strength (MPa)

%El :

% tensile elongation

%RA :

% reduction in area

E :

Young's modulus (MPa)

J Ic :

Elastic-plastic fracture toughness (fromJ-integral test) (kJ m−2)

K Ic :

Linear-elastic fracture toughness, (MPa m1/2)

V v graphite :

Volume fraction graphite

d ferrite :

Ferrite grain size

N A :

Nodule count on a random plane (number mm−2)

D v :

Three-dimensional nodule diameter (mm)

λv :

Three-dimensional mean free nodule spacing (centre-to-centre) (mm)

D A :

Average nodule diameter on a random plane (“two-dimensional size”) (mm)

ΔA :

Average nearest neighbour spacing (centre-to-centre) on a random plane (“two-dimensional spacing”) (mm)

a tog :

Constants in the multiple linear regression analysis

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  1. Physical Metallurgy Division, 1832 Sandia National Laboratories, 87185, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA

    R. Salzbrenner

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Salzbrenner, R. Fracture toughness behaviour of ferritic ductile cast iron. J Mater Sci 22, 2135–2147 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01132950

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