Microstructure and Properties of Cast Iron with Semi-Solid Process Using Cooling Plate Technique

Abstract

Semi-solid metal processing with the cooling plate technique is one of the key technologies for producing advanced materials. The multitude of cast iron families with their wide range of mechanical properties, and relatively low costs combined with the advantage of semi-solid processing allow production of high quality cast components from cast iron. The effect of semi-solid processing using the cooling plate technique on the microstructure and the properties of cast iron is studied. The investigated material is hypo-eutectic, hyper-eutectic gray iron, compacted graphite and ductile cast iron. The results indicated that the microstructure (primary austenite and graphite) becomes finer and more globular by increasing the fraction of solid. The tensile strength of semi-solid processed cast iron is relatively high compared with ordinary cast iron. The values of both the tensile strength and the elongation depend on the fraction of solid. The total fracture strength is observed to depend on the graphite morphology as well as the matrix contribution that mainly depends on fraction of solid. The wear resistance and damping capacity of cast iron were investigated as a function of the relative amount of primary fraction of solid.