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Designing With Austempered Ductile Iron (ADI) : J. R. Keough and K. L. Hayrynen G. L. Pioszak
Designing With Austempered Ductile Iron (ADI) : J. R. Keough and K. L. Hayrynen G. L. Pioszak
Designing With Austempered Ductile Iron (ADI) : J. R. Keough and K. L. Hayrynen G. L. Pioszak
pdf, Page 1 of 15
AFS Proceedings 2010 American Foundry Society, Schaumburg, IL USA
ABSTRACT interpret and use. This paper, and the references indicated
herein, are intended to aid the mechanical designer in the
Austempered Ductile Iron (ADI) is a ferrous, cast consideration of ADI for a design solution.
material with a high strength-to-weight ratio and good
dynamic properties. However, many designers are only WHERE TO BEGIN
vaguely familiar with the savings related to near net shape
castings and totally unfamiliar with this material that can A designer given a product or component to consider
compete favorably with steel and aluminum castings, must always start by narrowing down the entire world of
weldments and forgings. This paper will review the materials to those that might have appropriate properties,
design considerations for ADI to help the mechanical have reasonable manufacturability and low cost. As
designer in his/her material/process selection activity engineers, we would prefer that cost be no issue and be
early in the design process. able to deal only with making a perfect part. However,
we live in an imperfect world and cost is the ultimate
INTRODUCTION reality. All components will eventually fail. It is simply
a matter of how long we want them to live and how long
The Austempering process is a high performance, we can practically afford for them to live.
isothermal heat treating process that imparts superior
properties to ferrous materials. It was developed in the Narrowing down the material/process world for a specific
1930's and, although in wide use, is familiar to only a application includes such considerations as:
fraction of the design community. Ductile iron or Strength (tensile strength, yield strength, etc.)
spheroidal graphite iron was developed in the 1940's. Dynamic Performance (toughness, fatigue
Ductile iron, with its unique, spheroidal graphite strength);
morphology, produces an iron that has tensile and impact Wear resistance (abrasion, rolling, sliding,
properties sufficient for products as varied as brake galling);
calipers, pump impellers and steering knuckles . Special features such as corrosion resistance,
noise damping, electrical resistivity, etc;
The application of the Austempering process to ductile Manufacturability (combining features,
iron produces a material called Austempered Ductile Iron machinability, near net shape, process reliability,
(ADI) that has a strength-to-weight ratio that exceeds that dimensional repeatability);
of aluminum. ADI was commercialized beginning in the Cost (cost of the material blank, cost of the
1970's and has seen significant growth in the decades finished component, cost of inventory).
following.
This paper is an attempt to guide the designer through the
The selection of ADI as a material for design consideration of Austempered Ductile Iron (ADI). The
consideration has been driven by the ductile iron authors goal is to provide the necessary comparative
foundries and the Austempering suppliers and not by the information to allow one to filter through the first several
mechanical design community. That is the direct result of layers of decision making and get to the roots of an ADI
the lack of shared information on the technology and a design.or not.
near-absence of references to ADI in the most widely
used engineering textbooks and databases. THE DUCTILE IRON PROCESS
The design information necessary for the selection of ADI Ductile iron is an iron-based alloy which contains a
as an option exists, but has largely been available in carbon content that is high enough to exceed its solubility
fragments located in often obscure papers and texts. To in iron; resulting in the presence of pure carbon or
simplify the process for the selection of ADI, it is graphite dispersed within an iron matrix. In the case of
important to have ADI design information readily ductile iron, the shape of the graphite is spheroidal or
available in a format that mechanical designers can easily
Paper 10-129.pdf, Page 2 of 15
AFS Proceedings 2010 American Foundry Society, Schaumburg, IL USA
high tolerances and require better surface finish than can A high nodule count is important to minimize segregation
be produced using a green sand process. of alloy elements which can promote the presence of
carbides as well as delay the rate of formation of the
THE ADI PROCESS Ausferrite microstructure. Additionally, a high nodule
count will prevent the formation of porosity or micro-
In order to produce ADI, ductile iron must undergo a heat shrinkage as well as promote the formation of small,
treat process called Austempering. Austempering was round graphite nodules.
developed in the 1930s and has subsequently been
applied to steel to produce a microstructure called Bainite. Upon examining the grades of ductile iron in Table 1, one
While the steps for Austempering ductile iron are can see that the chemistry of the iron is not part of the
essentially the same as those for steel, the resultant specification. All that is required to certify ductile iron to
microstructure is different. It is called Ausferrite and a particular grade is that the minimum tensile properties
consists of a mixture of high carbon Austenite and ferrite. are met. Conversely, most steels and aluminum alloys are
specified by chemical composition.
A schematic that illustrates the Austempering process is
shown in Figure 2. Austempering, in general, consists of In order to be successful at Austempering ductile iron,
the following: chemistry (or the hardenability) of the iron is important.
Hardenability refers to an ability to form Martensite or the
Heating to a temperature to produce Austenite; ability to cool from the austenitizing temperature to the
Quenching rapidly to avoid the formation of Austempering temperature without forming any
pearlite or other microconstituents to a undesirable microconstituents like pearlite. Because
temperature above the Martensite start (Ms). heavy sections cool more slowly, they require more
This quench temperature is referred to as the hardenability or more alloy additions.
Austempering temperature;
Holding at the selected Austempering A qualified heat treater can work with a designer to
temperature for a time sufficient to transform the choose the proper chemistry of ductile iron to be
Austenite to the desired end product; Bainite for Austempered. In general, most section sizes less than 20
steel and Ausferrite for ductile iron. mm can through harden without making alloy additions
provided the Austempering setup and apparatus is
adequate for the purpose. When alloy additions are
necessary, Cu, Ni or Mo are typically used.
Table 2. The Six Standard Grades of ADI as THE MECHANICAL DESIGN PROCESS- WHERE
5
designated by ASTM A897-A897M-06. TO START (The Mouth of the Funnel)
Prior Tensile Yield Elon Typical The mechanical designer has a tough job. He/she must be
Grading Strength Strength g. Hardness able to satisfy the physical performance, aesthetics and
System (MPa/ksi) (MPa/ksi) (%) (HBW)
the cost of the component or system. The range of
750 / 110 500 / 70 11 241-302
material/process choices has broadened dramatically in
1 900 / 130 650 / 90 9 269-341 the past several decades. While steel properties have been
2 1050 / 150 750 / 110 7 302-375 rather well defined for over 50 years, the properties of
3 1200 / 175 850 / 125 4 341-444 materials like the various aluminum alloys, composite
4 1400 / 200 1100 / 155 2 388-477 materials, ceramic materials and polymers has been
5 1600 / 230 1300 / 185 1 402-512 evolving as the information blanks are being filled in
*Note: All properties are minimum requirements except with experimental and experiential investigations.
hardness which is typical.
In parallel with the materials developments have been
Photomicrographs of two grades of ADI are provided in remarkable engineering and manufacturing process
Figure 3. These grades represent the range in developments in everything from 3-D, finite element
microstructure fineness that can be developed by varying analysis (FEA) and stereolithographic prototypes, to new,
the Austempering temperature. more efficient and accurate welding, casting, stamping,
cutting, forging and machining techniques.
Narrowing the material/process combinations to those other heavy metals are an ongoing environmental concern
options that adequately address the aforementioned to water supplies and some polymers and composites
requirements/conditions constitutes what we will call, cannot be recycled at all.
getting into the mouth of the decision making funnel.
In this mouth of the funnel decision making process,
A high strength-to-weight ratio would eliminate ADI can be considered in the following, relative terms:
material/process combinations like zinc die castings, or It has a high strength-to-weight ratio;
gray iron castings and most polymers or ceramic It has good dynamic properties;
materials. It has good wear resistance for a given hardness;
It is a cast material and has the advantages of
Good properties at cold temperatures would further near net shape processing and generally good
narrow the range of steels and irons that would be manufacturability;
appropriate, but aluminum, having no ductile-to-brittle It is cost competitive with other common
transition temperature, would perform well in low engineering materials.
temperature conditions.
MONOTONIC PROPERTIES
The fact that nobody will die or be injured if this part fails
allows the designer to be a bit more aggressive in his/her The monotonic properties include such measures as
mechanical safety factors which usually leads to reduced tensile (ultimate) strength, yield (proof) strength,
cost. Cast, wrought and welded designs would all be compressive strength, shear strength, elongation,
candidates. This decision would probably eliminate reduction in area, Youngs modulus (stiffness) and
exotic manufacturing processes (EDM, precision forging, Poissons ratio. All of these measure the deflection or
machining from bar stock) and materials (titanium alloys, distortion of the material under a given, single-cycle,
electro-slag remelted steel bar) as the design could be stress up to, and including, failure.
accomplished with conventional processes that are lower
in cost. Manufacturers over time have contented themselves with
supplying mechanical engineers with tensile strength,
The fact that the part will be loaded in low-cycle fatigue yield strength and elongation because these three
may imply to the designer that we have a finite life issue properties are easily gathered in one test. This data is
where the part will be highly loaded at a lower number of familiar to us so we continue to gather it. After all, our
fatigue cycles. We need only to design a component that material standards are based on them. However, without
will have sufficient strength to survive this high loading much fanfare, two of the three measures have become
for just the number of cycles expected for the life of the largely meaningless.
system. This will also reduce the cost of the chosen
material/process combination selected. Scores of interdependent property relationships related to
tensile strength continue to exist. For example, the
A key road sign for the designer is if a precedent part endurance ratio portends high cycle fatigue performance
failed. When there are failures, one can proceed for a given tensile strength. The problem is that for most
immediately to design a solution to the failure. Did it design applications, if the part has yielded (plastically
wear out? If yes, we need to find a material/process deformed or elongated), it is scrap. That is reflected in
combination that gives us a part with sufficient strength the fact that FEA models do not consider either tensile
and dynamic properties that can survive the wear strength or elongation in their long list of coefficients and
conditions that the part is exposed to for the desired life exponents because those models are used to design parts
cycle. that are not plastically deformed. Those models also use
such values as Youngs Modulus (stiffness) and Poissons
A more difficult proposition is if there has never been a Ratio (directional deflection) to accurately model the
failure in service on a like component. Why would one dimensional response of a component to a given input.
change a part that has never failed in service? The nearly
universal answer to this is either cost, weight or Yield strength is a useful measure because it predicts the
availability..but usually cost. onset of plastic deformation. Elongation is only useful to
the extent that it gives us a relative feel for the ductility
If cost were not an issue, we would use cheap materials of a material. Unfortunately, the low speed at which the
and overdesign everything. If weight were the only issue, load is applied in a tensile test is not often encountered in
we would use expensive, exotic light-weight materials the ductile failure of a component. As stated before, if a
that would last forever. In any case, we need to acquire component elongates in service, it is usually scrap and,
the materials, and some materials and processes are just therefore, not a useful measure in design. Figure 4 shows
scarce or being eliminated for environmental or the relationship between elongation and yield strength for
regulatory reasons. For example, lead is being eliminated several material/process combinations.
in metal solders and free-machining steels, chromium and
Paper 10-129.pdf, Page 6 of 15
AFS Proceedings 2010 American Foundry Society, Schaumburg, IL USA
DYNAMIC PROPERTIES
Volume Galling
Material Loss Hardness Threshold
(mm3) (HRC) (MPa)
Grade 900 ADI 10.9 30 1527+
Grade 1050 ADI 10.7 40 894
Grade 1600 ADI 9.4 52 941
C/A 8620 Surface 10.6 54 512
C/H 8620 Surface 10.6 60 882
SAE 660 Bronze 70.1 27(HRB) 311+
Fig. 9. Relative volume loss to abrasion of several + Indicates no galling occurred during testing.
material/process combinations at 40 HRC.
ADI is a moderately tough material for its strength. For
This surface strain transformation effect also positively those familiar with designing with ductile iron, a general
affects the contact fatigue properties of ADI. Figure 10 rule of thumb for ADI would be that compared to as-cast
draws on AGMA 9-10 for comparative data in contact ductile iron, ADI will have twice the strength for a given
fatigue. ADI compares favorably with neutral (through) level of ductility.
hardened steel, nitrided steel and induction hardened
steel. ADI is perfectly adequate for contact stress levels The measures of toughness include impact strength
up to about 1600 MPa. Above 1600 MPa, carburized and (notched and un-notched) and fracture toughness. Once
hardened steel is currently the only alternative. again, the existing standards have developed over time
with the tests that are easy to make. Charpy and Izod
impact tests are time honored measures. Unfortunately,
they do not offer one bit of data that is useful in FEA
design. In Charpy impact, ADI is better than as-cast
ductile iron and aluminum, but inferior to steel.
OTHER PROPERTIES
Table 4. Relative Damping Capacity for various Table 5. The (Relative) Galvanic Series for selected
material/process combinations. metal alloys.
The silicon-iron-graphite oxide that develops on cast iron Previously in this paper, we discussed the effects of the
advances very slowly, once established. ADI is FCC Austenite in ADIs microstructure affecting its low
incrementally more corrosion resistant than steels and temperature toughness. The presence of Austenite in the
other cast irons due to the presence of graphite and structure also produces other characteristics of note in
Austenite in the metal matrix. (Note the position of ADI.
graphite and the Austenitic materials in the Galvanic
Series). For example, a Grade 1050-7 ADI has 9% We know that the Austenite in the Ausferrite structure is
graphite and approximately 30% Austenite in its structure thermally stable to very low (liquid helium) temperatures.
making the material more cathodic than ferritic/pearlitic However, the Austenite can break down into ferrite and
ductile irons or steels. carbide if exposed to elevated, long-term service
temperatures; resulting in a gradual degradation of tensile
Ferrous alloys hardened to high tensile strengths can be strength and toughness. Earlier research13 has
subject to environmentally assisted failure (EAF) under demonstrated that the ADI microstructure is long-term
the right conditions. Designers are familiar with the risk stable as long as operating temperatures did not exceed
of using quenched and tempered steels at elevated about 60C (108F) less than the isothermal
hardnesses loaded at a constant elevated stress (near the transformation (Austempering) temperature. Table 6
proof strength of the material). Liquids and other sources shows estimated maximum continuous operating
of hydrogen ambient to the highly stressed region of the temperatures for the various grades of ADI.
component can induce brittle failures at bulk loads
calculated to be below the proof stress. Table 6. Estimated maximum operating temperature
13
for the various grades of ADI.
ADI is also subject to EAF.12 A failure of this type
requires the presence of three conditions: (1) A high and Grade of ADI Maximum Operating
constant stress near the proof stress and/or local plastic Temperature
deformation; (2) A slow strain rate and (3) a hydrogen or 750-500-11 315C (600F)
liquid source of hydrogen ions. Therefore, in designing 900-650-09 315C (600F)
with ADI, one should never use it in an application where 1050-750-07 300C (572F)
the parts are locally plastically deformed at a high (and 1200-850-04 290C (554F)
sustained) stress level. 1400-1100-02 280C (536F)
1600-1300-01 260C (500F)
Paper 10-129.pdf, Page 11 of 15
AFS Proceedings 2010 American Foundry Society, Schaumburg, IL USA
(b) ADI seeder boot Fig. 20. The ADI truck trailer hub (Left) is 2% lighter
and lower in cost than the aluminum hub (Right) that it
Fig. 18. The multiple-piece welded steel seeder boot replaced.
(a) was replaced with the one-piece ADI design (b)
with significant cost, mass and time savings.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
DEFINITIONS/ABBREVIATIONS