Table Of ContentINVESTIGATION OP PRODUCTION AND PROPERTIES
OP NODULAR CAST IRON
LI8JMRT
COLORADO SCHOOL CF 11INFS
GOLDEN, COLQRaW
By
Vishwanath A» A ltekar
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A thesis submitted to the Faculty and the Board of
Trustees of the Colorado School of Mines in partial fulfill
ment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science.
Vishwanatli A . Altekar
Approved:
5
4
5
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Golden, Colorado. 0
Date YnflL^f 2.4% , , 1950.
ACKH OWLEDGMENT
I t is w ith a deep sense of g ratitu d e th a t I wish to ex
press my indebtedness to C lark B* C arpenter, P rofessor of
M etallurgy a t the Colorado School of Mines, w ithout whose
*
kind in te re s t and able supervision th is work could not have
seen the lig h t o f day* He has given much of h is precious
time towards the supervision of work described herein*
I am also indebted to Messrs* Ernie and Boy Higsons of
the W estern Iron Foundry, Denver, and to Messrs* C. F. Card,
D* Card, and Clyde Penny of the C. F. Card Iron Works, Denver*
P rep aratio n of moulds, treatm ent of m etal, and castin g of the
tre a te d iron was done a t e ith e r of the two foundries*
The m achining of the te n s !I te s t b ars was done a t the
C * P , Card Iron Works through the kindness of M essrs. Dave
Card and Clyde Penny,
I am also thankful to Mr, C urtis Drake of the G riffin
Wheel Company of Denver fo r h is kind help in the work*
To the follow ing acknowledged lead ers in the fie ld of
nodular iro n my thanks are due fo r th e ir kind In te re s t and
encouragement in my works P rofessor A lbert De Sy of the
U n iversity of Ghent, Belgium; Mr* C harles K* Donoho of the
American C ast Iron and Pipe Company of Birmingham, Alabama;
Mr* T* H, Wiekenden, Vice P resid en t of the In te rn a tio n a l ' «
H Ickel Company; Mr. J* A, F ournier, C hief Chemist in the
Department of Mines and Technical Surveys of Canada, and
Mr* C* M, O ffenhauer, of the Union Carbide Carbon Research
L aboratories, Incorporated, N iagara F a lls , New York*
I am also very much obliged to P rofessors M. C. Smith
and S* L* Smith of the Department of M etallurgy, Colorado
School of Mines, fo r kindly accommodating the work in th e ir
resp ective la b o ra to rie s, and fo r p u ttin g the available f a c il
itie s a t ray disposal*
r
CONTENTS
Pag©
In tro d u ctio n . 1
P a rt X* Survey of* lite ra tu r e . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Chapter I* Theories on N adullaation of G raphite « 5
Chapter I I , Production of Nodular G raphitic Irons 12
In tro d u ctio n • 12
Methods of Magnesium A ddition • • • • • * • 12
E ffect of I n o c u l a t i o n ..................................... . . 15
Optimum Magnesium Content in C ast Iron • • » 16
E ffe ct of Holding Time 18
Chem istry of the Iron » • • • . . « • . . • 18
E ffect of S ilico n . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Influence o f Phosphorus . . . . . . . . . . 22
Manganese . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Sulphur • . • 25
Other* Elements . . . . . . . . . ............... 27
C asting C h a ra c te ristic s . . . . . . . . . . 27
P o te n tia l A pplications . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Economics of the Production * • 38
Chapter I I I , Physical P ro p erties and Heat
Treatm ent of Nodular Irons . » • • . • • • . . 44
The T ensile P ro p erties 44
D u c tility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Hardness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
CONTENTS (Continued)
Page
Endurance P ro p erties ♦ . . . . . • . * • . . 4 7
M achlnabllity . . . * • ♦ . . . . . . * . • 49
Wear R esistance . • « . . • . . • • . . . . 51
E le c tric a l R esistance . , * . . . . . . . . 51
Transverse S trength •* . , . . . • • . ♦ . 51
W eldab ility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . • . 52
H eat Treatm ents • • . . . • . . . . . . . . 5 2
Growth of Nodular Cast Iron • • • • • « * * 55
M echanical Working of D uctile Cast Irons ♦ • 59
B ibliography • . . . ♦ • • . . • . . . . . . . . . . . 62
p
f a r t XI* Experim ental Work . . ♦ . . . . . . . . . ♦ . ,
Introductory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
-'''Ibcpdriments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Summary and Conclusions 47
INTRODUCTION
There perhaps was never made a more epochmaking announce
ment in the h is to ry of the c ast iro n in d u stry as th a t made by
Morrogh and h is a sso c iates a t the P hiladelp hia m eeting o f the
American Foundryraen*© A ssociation on May 7, 1948. On th a t
occasion .they announced a process fo r tre a tin g c a st iron to
produce nodular graphite in the ttas c a s t” con d itio n . This
announcement was quickly follow ed by a sim ila r statem ent by
Wickenden of the In te rn a tio n a l N ickel Company announcing a
sim ila r process o btainin g sim ila r re s u lts by the use of an
o th er elem ent.
The h isto ry of the cast iron development can be roughly
divided in to th ree p erio d s. In the f i r s t c a st Iron was taken
fo r what i t was worth and used as such; in the second perio d,
attem pts were made to improve its p ro p erties by allo y addi
tio n s on the lin e of a llo y s te e ls ; and in the la s t period
s ta rtin g ju st a fte r World War I , I t was re a liz e d th a t the
stren g th of the Iron depends upon the stren g th of Its weak
e s t c o n stitu en t — the graphite flak e s; and attem pts were
made to modify the shape, siz e , and d is trib u tio n of graphite
r
flak es by various inoculants* Perhaps the most Im portant of
these inocu lants was Calcium sillcl& e used in the M eehanite
p ro cess, which raised the p ro p erties of gray c ast iro n to an
appreciably higher le v e l.
The m e ta llu rg ist had long realized th a t the graphite
flake© con trib u te the most to the weakness of the iron by
Introducing d isc o n tin u ity among the m etallic g rain s. I t was
also rea liz ed th a t the b est form of graphite in any iro n
would b© th a t in which i ts surface to volume ra tio is the
least-w hich form Is a sphere* Such a form e x istin g In
tempered m alleable iro n s, was seen to e x e rt the le a s t harm
fu l influence on the m echanical p ro p erties of the iro n ; i t
was the id e a l of the m alleable Iron man and a dream of the
v
gray c a st Iron man. The announcement th a t such a form of
graphite could be obtained In i t s e n tire ty in 11 as c a st” con
d itio n brought a sudden awakening In the foundry Ind ustry.
I t brought a ju b ila tio n In the gray Iron foundrymen, and ap
prehension amongst the m alleable and the s te e l foundrymen.
That announcement today is two years o ld. The wide a t
te n tio n , research , and ap p licatio n stu d ies th a t th is new
m aterial rig h tfu lly deserved, has to a considerable e x ten t
*
removed the apprehensions amongst various section s of the
in d u stry . I t has been reported th a t many m alleable iro n
fo u n d ries, recognizing the su p erio r m ateria l, have sta rte d
producing i t along with th e ir o rig in a l product*
A c a re fu l study of the p ro p erties of the new m aterial
rev eals one very im portant fa c t — th a t nodular Iron has a
place of its own, th a t I t f i l l s a g reat gap e x istin g between
ordinary c a st Iron and c ast s te e l. I t enjoys the process
advantages of cast iro n such as c a s ta b ility , and flu id ity ,
w ith the product advantages of s te e l. L ately as a re s u lt of
extensive a p p lica tio n te s ts , i t has been reported th a t in
stead of rep lacin g any of the p resen t classes of ferrous
c astin g a llo y s, the new m aterial is capturing new fie ld s and
bringing new business to the foundry industry*
Meanwhile, the process is being rap id ly developed in
a ll im portant f ie ld s . Treatment of b la s t furnace m etal
d ire c tly as i t comes ou t of the furnace and castin g i t in to
in g o ts, slab s, and b ille ts to be subsequently ro lle d in to
heavy sectio n s used in heavy in s ta lla tio n s , has been proposed
and trie d with some success. Search Is also going on fo r a
b e tte r method fo r the Introdu ction of the nodullzlng agents in
to the iro n and the ob taining of dependable reco v eries. This
Is very im portant fo r p o p u larity of the method as upon i t de
pends the treatm ent cost and the erad icatio n of the c ritic is m
th a t i t is a “Cook Book” p ro p o sitio n .
In the follow ing pages an attem pt has been made to study
c r itic a lly the work done to date on th is im portant m a teria l.
The la te r p o rtio n concerns I ts e lf with the experim ental work
done by the author under the able supervision of P rofessor
C lark B. C arpenter. Y&iereas the survey of the lite ra tu re on
the subject is exhaustive, the scope of the experim ental work
has been lim ited by the av ailab le time and f a c ilitie s .
