Influence of inoculation on solidification in cast iron

Abstract

Inoculation of cast iron has been mainly studied for the nucleus materials and the development of new inoculants. The effect is widely recognised; nevertheless, the mechanism was not fully understood. Inoculation leads to a decrease in chill depth, depressed the formation of D type graphite to form A type graphite and increase in the eutectic cell number. The transition from A type to the D type graphite is also accelerated by Ti addition; therefore we used Ti added samples for the study of D type graphite formation. The increase in the eutectic cell number produces a decrease in the cell size, namely the radius; nevertheless, the solidification time of the castings does not change by inoculation. Therefore, the solidification rate of the cell, namely the linear solidification rate, should decrease with inoculation and the decrease produces a depression in the chill and D type graphite due to the smaller undercooling. Therefore, we have to consider the three-dimensional solidification rate for discussing the cooling curve.