A Microscale Model for Ausferritic Transformation of Austempered Ductile Irons

Abstract

This paper presents a new metallurgical model for the ausferritic transformation of ductile cast iron. The model allows predicting the evolution of phases in terms of the chemical composition, austenitization and austempering temperatures, graphite nodule count, and distribution of graphite nodule size. The ferrite evolution is predicted according to the displacive growth mechanism. A representative volume element is employed at the microscale to consider the phase distributions, the inhomogeneous austenite carbon content, and the nucleation of ferrite subunits at the graphite nodule surface and at the tips of existing ferrite subunits. The performance of the model is evaluated by comparison with experimental results. The results indicate that the increment of the ausferritic transformation rate, which is caused by increments of austempering temperature and graphite nodule count, is adequately represented by this model.