Structural stability of thin-walled austempered ductile iron castings

The structural stability of ausferrite in thin-walled Austempered Ductile Iron (ADI) castings with 5 mm wall thickness is compared to a reference casting with 25 mm wall thickness. The thin-walled and reference castings were first austenitized between 850 and 925 °C, and then austempered between 250 and 380 °C. X-ray diffraction (XRD) investigations with changing temperature were performed between - 260 up to + 450 °C to investigate the change of phase fraction, lattice parameters and strain in ausferrite. The role of the austenitization temperature on structural stability and homogeneity of the investigated ADI castings has been provided. In addition, the problem of the occurrence of "blocky" high-carbon austenite that was not completely involved during austempering, has been taken into account. Finally, it has been shown that the thin-walled castings provided higher structural homogeneity and stability if compared to the reference castings.