The Nature of the Tensile Fracture in Austempered Ductile Iron with Dual Matrix Microstructure

The tensile fracture characteristics of austempered ductile irons with dual matrix structures and different ausferrite volume fractions have been studied for an unalloyed ductile cast iron containing (in wt.%) 3.50 C, 2.63 Si, 0.318 Mn, and 0.047 Mg. Specimens were intercritically austenitized (partially austenitized) in two phase region (α + γ) at various temperatures for 20 min and then quenched into a salt bath held at austempering temperature of 365 °C for various times and then air cooled to room temperature to obtain various ausferrite volume fractions. Conventionally austempered specimens with fully ausferritic matrix and unalloyed as-cast specimens having fully ferritic structures were also tested for comparison. In dual matrix structures, results showed that the volume fraction of proeutectoid ferrite, new (epitaxial) ferrite, and ausferrite bainitic ferrite + high-carbon austenite (stabilized or transformed austenite)] can be controlled to influence the strength and ductility. Generally, microvoids nucleation is initiated at the interface between the graphite nodules and the surrounding ferritic structure and at the grain boundary junctions in the fully ferritic microstructure. Debonding of the graphite nodules from the surrounding matrix structure was evident. The continuity of the ausferritic structure along the intercellular boundaries plays an important role in determining the fracture behavior of austempered ductile iron with different ausferrite volume fractions. The different fracture mechanisms correspond to the different levels of ausferrite volume fractions. With increasing continuity of the ausferritic structure, fracture pattern changed from ductile to moderate ductile nature. On the other hand, in the conventionally austempered samples with a fully ausferritic structure, the fracture mode was a mixture of quasi-cleavage and a dimple pattern. Microvoid coalescence was the dominant form of fracture in all structures.