Abstract
Austempered Ductile Iron (ADI) is a candidate material to replace case-hardened steel in many applications. The mechanical properties of ADI can be tailored by the chemical composition and heat treatment conditions. In this study, different nickel content Ductile Irons (DI) were cast and heat treated. In order to design the austempering process, time–temperature–transformation diagrams were generated with the Calculation of Phase Diagrams method. For each chemical composition, one group was tested in its as-cast state while the second and third groups were austempered. For austempering, the casting is reheated to austenitization temperature (900 °C) and then quenched in a salt bath at a temperature of 300 °C and held at this temperature for 2 h. The third group was cryo-treated (−196 °C for 6 h) and tempered (200 °C for 2 h) after the austempering process. Microstructural examination was performed using an optical microscope and X-ray diffraction technique. The effect of heat treatment on the hardness, toughness, and tribological behaviors of samples was investigated. The results showed that austempering with correct parameters significantly improved the hardness, toughness, and wear resistance of DI. The nickel content of DI plays a significant role in determining the properties of the alloy, and the optimum Ni amount among the tested compositions was found to be 1.64%. It was observed that cryogenic treatment facilitates some of the austenite to martensite transformations and improves wear resistance (20%); however, it has a limited effect on hardness (2–3 HRc) and toughness (±3 J).
Similar content being viewed by others
References
‘Austempered Ductile Iron and ADI Castings’, Willman Industries. https://willmanind.com/austempered-ductile-iron/ (accessed Mar. 29, 2021).
S.K. Yu, C.R. Loper Jr., H.H. Cornell, The effect of molybdenum, copper, and nickel on the microstructure, hardness, and hardenability of ductile cast irons. AFS Trans. 94, 557–576 (1986)
K.L. Hayrynen, ‘The Production of Austempered Ductile Iron (ADI). 2002 world conference on ADI, co-sponsored by the ductile iron society and the American foundry society, conference proceedings’. (Louisville, Kentucky, USA, 2002)
U. Batra, S. Ray, S.R. Prabhakar, The influence of nickel and copper on the austempering of ductile iron. J. Mater. Eng. Perform. 13(1), 64–68 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1361/10599490417515
R. Ghasemi, I. Hassan, A. Ghorbani, A. Dioszegi, Austempered compacted graphite iron—influence of austempering temperature and time on microstructural and mechanical properties. Mater. Sci. Eng. A 767, 138434 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.msea.2019.138434
O. Erić, M. Jovanović, L. Šid¯anin, D. Rajnović, S. Zec, The austempering study of alloyed ductile iron. Mater. Des. 27(7), 617–622 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matdes.2004.11.028
A. Uyar, O. Sahin, B. Nalcaci, V. Kilicli, Effect of austempering times on the microstructures and mechanical properties of dual-matrix structure austempered ductile iron (DMS-ADI). Int. J. Met. (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40962-021-00617-4
H.B. Pereira, A.P. Tschiptschin, H. Goldenstein, C.R.F. Azevedo, Effect of the austenitization route on the bainitic reaction kinetics and tensile properties of an alloyed austempered ductile iron. Int. J. Met. (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40962-020-00569-1
T. Tokunaga, Y.-J. Kim, H. Era, Effect of nickel content on microstructural evolution in austempered solution-strengthened ferritic ductile cast iron. J. Mater. Eng. Perform. 28(7), 4034–4040 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11665-019-04184-y
P. Sellamuthu, D.G.H. Samuel, D. Dinakaran, V.P. Premkumar, Z. Li, S. Seetharaman, Effect of nickel content and austempering temperature on microstructure and mechanical properties of austempered ductile iron (ADI). IOP Conf. Ser. Mater. Sci. Eng. 383, 012069 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1088/1757-899X/383/1/012069
H.D. Machado, R. Aristizabal-Sierra, C. Garcia-Mateo, I. Toda-Caraballo, Effect of the starting microstructure in the formation of austenite at the intercritical range in ductile iron alloyed with nickel and copper. Int. J. Met. 14(3), 836–845 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40962-020-00450-1
F. Wen et al., The role of bainite in wear and friction behavior of austempered ductile iron. Materials 12(5), 767 (2019). https://doi.org/10.3390/ma12050767
H. Zhang, Y. Wu, Q. Li, X. Hong, Mechanical properties and rolling-sliding wear performance of dual phase austempered ductile iron as potential metro wheel material. Wear 406–407, 156–165 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wear.2018.04.005
A. Polishetty, B.B. Pan, T. Pasang, and G. Littlefair, ‘Microstructural study on strain induced transformation in austempered ductile Iron using heat tinting’. In ASME 2010 international manufacturing science and engineering conference, 1, (Erie, Pennsylvania, USA, 2010), pp. 239–245. doi: https://doi.org/10.1115/MSEC2010-34085
P. Saranya, P.K. Susil, Processing of nanostructured austempered ductile cast iron (ADI) by a novel method. Int. J. Metall. Met. Phys. (2018). https://doi.org/10.35840/2631-5076/9220
N.S. Kalsi, R. Sehgal, V.S. Sharma, Cryogenic treatment of tool materials: a review. Mater. Manuf. Process. 25(10), 1077–1100 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1080/10426911003720862
F.H. Çakir, O.N. Çelik, The effects of cryogenic treatment on the toughness and tribological behaviors of eutectoid steel. J. Mech. Sci. Technol. 31(7), 3233–3239 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-017-0613-3
A. Sert, O.N. Celik, Characterization of the mechanism of cryogenic treatment on the microstructural changes in tungsten carbide cutting tools. Mater. Charact. 150, 1–7 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matchar.2019.02.006
F.H. Çakir, O.N. Çelik, Influence of cryogenic treatment on microstructure and mechanical properties of Ti6Al4V alloy. J. Mater. Eng. Perform. (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11665-020-05177-y
S. Panneerselvam, C.J. Martis, S.K. Putatunda, J.M. Boileau, An investigation on the stability of austenite in austempered ductile cast iron (ADI). Mater. Sci. Eng. A 626, 237–246 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.msea.2014.12.038
S. Grenier, C. Labrecque, A. Bhattacharjee, R. Gundlach, B. Kroka, M. Riabov, Inter-laboratory study of nodularity and nodule count of ductile iron by image analysis. Int. J. Met. 8(2), 51–63 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03355582
O.N. Çelik, Investigation of the Effects of Cu, Ni and Mo Alloy Elements on the Formation of Bainite Resulting from Austempering in Spheroidal Graphite Cast Iron and Evaluation by Neural Network Model (Eskişehir Osmangazi Üniversitesi, Eskişehir, 1996)
A.S.M. International, J.R. Davis, A.S.M. International (eds.), Heat Treating, 10th edn. (Materials Park, Ohio, ASM International, 2007)
J. Cui, L. Chen, Microstructure and abrasive wear resistance of an alloyed ductile iron subjected to deep cryogenic and austempering treatments. J. Mater. Sci. Technol. 33(12), 1549–1554 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmst.2017.08.003
D. Das, A.K. Dutta, K.K. Ray, On the refinement of carbide precipitates by cryotreatment in AISI D2 steel. Philos. Mag. 89(1), 55–76 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1080/14786430802534552
P. Jovičević-Klug, M. Jovičević-Klug, B. Podgornik, Effectiveness of deep cryogenic treatment on carbide precipitation. J. Mater. Res. Technol. 9(6), 13014–13026 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmrt.2020.09.063
B.D. Cullity, S.R. Stock, Elements of X-Ray Diffraction, 3rd edn. (Harlow, Pearson Education, 2014)
K.L. Johnson, One hundred years of hertz contact. Proc. Inst. Mech. Eng. 196(1), 363–378 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1243/PIME_PROC_1982_196_039_02
F.H. Çakir, O.N. Çelik, Tribological properties of cryo-treated and aged Ti6Al4V alloy. Trans. Indian Inst. Met. (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12666-020-01898-9
B. Wang, G.C. Barber, F. Qiu, Q. Zou, H. Yang, A review: phase transformation and wear mechanisms of single-step and dual-step austempered ductile irons. J. Mater. Res. Technol. 9(1), 1054–1069 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmrt.2019.10.074
D. Das, A.K. Dutta, K.K. Ray, Optimization of the duration of cryogenic processing to maximize wear resistance of AISI D2 steel. Cryogenics 49(5), 176–184 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cryogenics.2009.01.002
F.H. Çakir, O.N. Çelik, Effect of isothermal bainitic quenching on rail steel impact strength and wear resistance. Met. Sci. Heat Treat. (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11041-017-0144-7
Acknowledgement
The author would like to thank Prof. Dr. Osman Nuri ÇELİK for providing the test material and guidance, and Mr. Akif TUTGUN for his support in experimental tests. This work was supported by a research program supported by the Eskisehir Osmangazi University.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Çakir, F.H. The Effect of Cryogenic Treatment on Hardness, Toughness, and Tribological Properties of Austempered Ductile Iron with Different Nickel Contents. Inter Metalcast 16, 1442–1454 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40962-021-00686-5
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40962-021-00686-5