ADI Crankshafts

Attempts to reduce weight and increase power input are the centre of attention
in the automobile industry. This goal cannot be achieved unless materials with
higher strength/weight ratio, enhanced fatigue properties and greater cost
effectiveness are used.
The main problem with the process technology stems from the lack of
understanding of carbon kinetics in ADI during heat treatment, and especially
the parameters which control those kinetics.

Melt Preparation Heat

Machining Grinding
& Casting Treatment
There are several reasons for the slow progress in the mass production
of ADI components:
• Lack of confidence in industries which have used forged components
safely for years.
• Lack of suitable heat-treatment facilities.
• Complexity of the austempering process and lack of engineering
design data.
• Higher scrap rate of castings.
• Poor machinability in the austempered condition.
• The purpose of austempering dutile iron is to produce a repetitious acicular matrix structure
which consists of high carbon austenite and ferrite. With this matrix structure, nodular iron
displays remarkable strength and ductility.
• It is an intermediate structure formed during the austenite decomposition to bainite, or it may
be called a structure of incomplete bainitic transformation.
• The bainite transformation in ductile iron is a two phase process. In Phase I a sample of nodular
iron is quenched from an austenitizing temperature to a bainite reaction temperature. In Phase
II, the bainitic transformation is completed. The optimum physical properties are achieved
when Phase I is completed and before Phase II starts.
 Melt Preperation & Casting
• The open ladle (sandwich) and inmould techniques were used for spheroidising. S, P and
Cr levels in melt were limited to 0.015%, 0.03% and 0.04%, respectively. Post inoculation
was performed with 0.4% inoculant (Fe-75%Si).
• The most important and the most difficult task in heat treating ADI is to obtain a uniform
microstructure. It is difficult because there is significant solute segregation in the casting.
The segregating solutes cause nonuniform carbon solubility and distribution
• Casting soundness, microstructural features and mechanical properties were assessed in
the following ways:
• Visual examination of longitudinal and transverse sections of cast crankshafts.
• Metallographic examination of specimens prepared from the thickest section of the
crankshafts.
• Examination of Mg and Si levels in the inmould treated crankshafts 4.
• Tensile, unnotched impact and rotating bending fatigue tests on specimens taken from the
crankshaft.
• A 10% machining allowance was made on the pattern for all sections to be machined. A 1
mm grinding allowance was left on all sections.
Heat Treatment
• The iron composition selected was 3.45-3.55%C, 2.5-2.7%Si, 0.25-0.30%Mn, 0.25-
0.30%Mo, 0.95-1.O%Ni, 0.5-0.6%Cu. This composition was chosen first to provide
sufficient austemperability, secondly to avoid extensive segregation of alloying
elements.
• Austemperability was assessed in the present study by subjecting round bars of
different diameters to the heat treatment cycle finally selected for the
crankshafts in the heat-treatment facilities used for mass production.
• The austempering heat-treatment cycle selected was austenitising at 875 ± 5 oc
for 120 min in a gas-fired chamber furnace with a non-oxidising atmosphere
followed by austempering at 365 ± 5 oc for 120min in an salt bath with a 1%
water addition and agitated with a propeller.
• When the part is heat treated, the effects of the as-cast structure are readily
seen, since the graphite morphology, the dendrite size, and the solute
segregation patterns do not change significantly, if at all.
The kinetic and mechanical property studies described in the next section show
that austempered iron of the selected composition is capable of satisfying the ADI
standard ASTM A897M:1990.

If the measured properties (UTS,

elongation and impact energy) are
represented on the graphs by a point that
lies above the line defining the standard,
the iron is considered to satisfy the
standard.

A study of the relationship between fatigue

strength and microstructure described
elsewhere shows that the fatigue strength
depends on the amount and C content of
the retained, high-C austenite and the
fineness of the ausferrite structure.
Mechanical Properties
• Several studies have emphasised the poor machinability of ADI. This is due to the
presence of unreacted austenite (in the form of martensite). Rough machining an
austempered structure was found to produce an increase in hardness.
• The runout in the middle of austempered crankshafts was found to be 0.1-0.2
mm. This was removed by grinding.

Bahmani1997- Paper
• The same analysis showed a safety
factor of about 3 for the yield stress, 2. 7
for the fatigue strength and 2.7 for the
resonant frequency.
• If close control is exercised over the
casting process to ensure a low scrap
rate, the cost saving is about 30%.
Kovacs1987- Paper
• After the test, tensile bars were
machined from both the forged steel
and the ADI crankshafts and the tensile
properties were determined.
• The ADI process was both production
feasible and reproducible. When
applied to replace forged steel
components, significant cost savings
may be realized.
 the process of decomposition of super-cooled austenite du
isothermal quenching can be described as follows:

In the first stage of reaction the super-cooled austenite o

equilibrium carbon concentration - γ(Cγo) will decompose
low carbon bainitc ferrite - α and enriched with carbon
austenite – γC (γsupersaturated). The high carbon concentratio
austenite wills it stabilize, so this carbon stabilized austen
together with bainitic ferrite form microstructure – ausfe
which is stable for some time called “processing window”
time region is typically used for producing ADI because it
enables to produce ADI of the best combination strength
ductility. The third stage is accompanied with carbide form
which decreases strongly the plastic properties of ADI.

On of the reason is that regular ductile iron which is starting there is no special demands concerning ADI, except the g
material before austempering, very often is non-homogenous quality ductile iron, the decomposition of super-cooled
material from point of view its chemistry. For example silicon austenite proceeding at three stages described above dep