Influence of Composition and Austempering Temperature on Machinability of Austempered Ductile Iron

Present investigations involve a systematic study on the machinability of austempered ductile irons (ADI) developed from four commercially viable ductile irons alloyed with different contents of 0, 0.1, 0.3 and 0.6 wt.% of Ni. The influence of Ni content, amount of retained austenite and hardness of ADI on machining behavior has been conducted systematically. Austempering heat treatment was carried out for 120 minutes at four temperatures- 270oC, 320oC, 370oC or 420oC, after austenitization at 900oC for 120 min. Milling tests were performed and machinability index, cutting forces and surface roughness measurements were used to evaluate the machinability. Higher cutting forces, lower machinability index and the poorer surface roughness of the samples austempered at lower temperatures indicated that austempering at higher temperatures resulted in better machinability. The machinability of samples austempered at 420oC, which contained higher fractions of retained austenite, was superior to that of samples austempered at lower temperatures, indicating that hardness is an important factor in assessing machinability in addition to high carbon austenite content. The ADI with 0.6% Ni, austempered at 420°C for 120 minutes, demonstrated best machinability.





References:
[1] M. N. Ahmadabadi, H. M. Ghasemi, and M. Osia, "Effects of Successive Austempering on Tribological Behavior of Ductile Cast Iron,” Wear, 1999, vol. 231, pp. 293–300.
[2] K. L. Hayrynen, D. J. Moore, and K. B. Rundman, "Tensile and Fatigue Properties of Relatively Pure ADI,” Trans. AFS, 1992, vol. 100, pp. 93–104.
[3] T. N. Rouns, K. B. Rundman, and D. J. Moore, "On the Structure and Mechanical Properties of ADI,” Trans. AFS, 1984, vol. 92, pp. 815–40.
[4] T. S. Shih, C. S. Chang, and L. Z. Huang, "Mechanical Properties and Microstructures of Austempered Ductile Iron,” Trans. AFS, 1991, vol. 107, pp. 793–808.
[5] R. B. Gundlach, and J. F. Janowak, "Austempered Ductile Iron Combines Strength with Toughness and Ductility,” Met. Prog., 1985, vol. 128, pp. 19–26.
[6] N. Darwish, and R. Elliot, "Austempering of Low Manganese Ductile Iron, Part 3. Variation of Mechanical Properties with Heat-Treatment Conditions,” Mater. Sci. Technol., 1993, vol. 9, pp. 882–89.
[7] D. J. Moore, T. N. Rouns, and K. B. Rundman, "The Relationship between Microstructure and Tensile Properties in Austempered Ductile Iron,” Trans. AFS, 1987, vol. 95, pp. 765–74.
[8] D. J. Moore, T. N. Rouns, and K. B. Rundman, "Structure and Mechanical Properties of Austempered Ductile Iron,” Trans. AFS, 1985, vol. 93, pp. 705–18.
[9] U. Batra, S. Ray, and S. R. Prabhakar, "Austempering and Austempered Ductile Iron Microstructure in Copper Alloyed Ductile iron,” J. Mater. Eng. Perf., 2003, vol. 112, pp. 426–29.
[10] U. Seker, and H. Hasirci, "Evaluation of machinability of austempered ductile irons in terms of cutting forces and surface quality,” J. Mater. Process. Technol., 2006, vol. 173, pp. 260–268.
[11] Klocke F. and Klöpper C., Machining of ADI” WZL- Laboratory of Machine Tools and Production Engineering: University of Technology, Aachen, Germany.
[12] F. Zanardi, "Fatigue Properties and Machinability of ADI,” Lametallurgia Italiana, 2005, vol. 10, pp. 27–32.
[13] Kristin Brandenberg, Successfully Machining Austempered DuctileIron, Applied process Inc. Technologies, Div.-Livonia, Michigan, USA, October 2001.
[14] B. Avishan, S. Yazdani, and D. J. Jalali, "Effect of austempering temperature on machinability of Cu-Ni-Mo alloyed austempered ductile iron for heavy section parts,” International Journal of Cast Metals Research, 2011, vol. 24, pp. 22–27.
[15] O. Eric, L. Sidjanin, Z. Miskovic, S. Zec, and M. T. Jovanovic, "Microstructure and toughness of CuNiMo austempered ductile iron,” J. Mater. Lett., 2004, vol. 58, pp. 2707–2711.
[16] R. C. Voigt, and C. R. Loper, "Austempered ductile iron process control and quality assurance,” J. Heat Treat., 1984, vol. 3, pp. 291–309.
[17] D. J. Moore, T. N. Rouns and K. B. Roundman: J. Heat. Treat, 1985, vol. 9, pp. 7–23.
[18] M. C. Cakir, A. Bayram, Y. Isik and B. Salar, "The effects of austempering temperature and time onto the machinability of austempered ductile iron,” Mater. Sci. Eng. A, 2005, vol. 407, pp. 147–153.
[19] M. Bahmani, and R. Elliott, "The austempering kinetics and mechanical properties of an austempered Cu-Ni-Mo-Mn alloyed ductile iron,” J. Mater. Sci., 1997, vol. 32, pp. 4783–4791.
[20] P. P. Rao, and S. K. Putatunda, "Influence of microstructure on fracture toughness of austempered ductile cast iron,” Metall. Mater. Trans. A, 1997, vol. 28, pp. 1457–1470.
[21] B. D. Cullity, Elements of X-ray Diffraction, Addison Wesley Publishing Company, 1956, pp. 390–396.
[22] T. H. Holloman, "Tensile Deformations,” Trans Metal Soc. AIME, 1945, vol. 162, pp. 268.
[23] Westermann Tables, pp. 95-96, Wiley Eastern Ltd., New Delhi, India, 1992.
[24] K.H.W. Seah, and S. C. Sharma, "Machinability of alloyed austempered ductile iron,” Int. J. Mach. Tool Manufact., 1995, vol. 35, pp. 1475-1479.
[25] Z. Zhongkui, S. Quingzhou, M. Hailong, and Z. Junxian,"8th Int. Symp. on Science and processing of cast iron,” Beijing, China, October 2006, 464–467.
[26] B. Avishan, S. Yazdani, and D. Jalali Vahid,"The influence of depth of cut on the machinability of an alloyed austempered ductile iron,” Mater. Sci.Eng. A, 2009, vol. 523, pp. 93–98.
[27] S. Yazdani, and R. Elliott,"Mater. Sci. Technol., 1999, vol. 15, pp. 531–540.