The Role of Primary Austenite Morphology in Hypoeutectic Compacted Graphite Iron Alloys

This work investigates the role of primary austenite morphology on the eutectic and eutectoid microstructures and the ultimate tensile strength (UTS) in a hypoeutectic compacted graphite iron (CGI) alloy. The morphology of primary austenite is modified by isothermal coarsening experiments in which holding times up to 60 min are applied to the solid-liquid region after coherency. The cooling conditions for the subsequent eutectic and eutectoid reactions are similar. Miniaturized tensile tests are performed to evaluate the UTS. The morphological characteristics related to the surface area of primary austenite, the modulus of primary austenite, M gamma\and the hydraulic diameter of the interdendritic region, , increase with the cube root of coarsening time. The eutectic and eutectoid microstructures are not significantly affected by the morphology of primary austenite, thus indicating that the morphology of the interdendritic regions does not control the nucleation frequency and growth of eutectic cells or graphite. UTS decreases linearly with the increasing coarseness of primary austenite for similar eutectic and eutectoid microstructures, demonstrating the strong influence of primary austenite morphology on the UTS in hypoeutectic CGI alloys.