Austempered ductile iron (ADI) is a very attractive material for applications where high strength, good ductility, wear resistance and fatigue strength are required. Thus, it offers design engineers an alternative to steel and aluminium alloys. ADI essentially is a cast ductile iron that undergoes a specially designed austempering heat treatment, which creates a microstructure of high carbon austenite and bainitic ferrite along with graphite nodules. The final proportion of these phases (and thus the mechanical properties) depends on the phase transformation kinetics which is strongly affected by composition, as-cast microstructure and heat treatment parameters (austempering).
ADI samples were austempered (heat treated) and the phase transitions were analysed after interrupted austempering. The phase fractions (austenite, ferrite, martensite, etc.) and their relation to bulk properties, like electrical resistivity, magnetic properties and mechanical properties (e.g. strength, hardness), and others were measured using optical and electron microscopy, X-ray and neutron diffraction, Mössbauer spectroscopy, and micro hardness measure¬ment. This combination of complementary techniques allows the correlation of the phase transition kinetics with the resulting properties.
Optimization of mechanical properties of complex, two-stage heat treatment of Cu–Ni (Mn, Mo) austempered ductile iron
