What are Cast Irons or Ductile Iron?

Ductile iron was patented in 1948, it is also known as nodular iron, spheroidal graphite iron. After a decade of sustainable development work in the 1950s, it had a phenomenal nine-fold boost in utilize as an engineering material during the 1960s, and the fast increase in commercial application until today.

Due to the graphite happens as spheroids than as individual flakes as in gray iron, an unique combination of properties is acquired in ductile iron. Adding a little, but specific, amount of Mg to molten iron of a right composition can obtain this mode of solidification.

The casting process advantages come from the high C and Si content of ductile iron, but the graphite spheroids have just a small influence on the mechanical properties of the metal, thus the castings are made within a large range of sizes with sections that can be either very thin or very thick.

By managing the matrix structure around the graphite either as-cast or by subsequent heat treatment, it can produce different grades. There are minor compositional differences that among the regular grades, and the adjustments can be used to promote the desired matrix microstructures.