J. Mater. Sci. Technol., Vol.23 No.

1, 2007

97

Effects of Alloying Elements on the Microstructures and Mechanical

Properties of Heavy Section Ductile Cast Iron
G.S.Cho1) , K.H.Choe1) , K.W.Lee1) and A.Ikenaga2)
1) Advanced Material Processing Team, Korea Institute of Industrial Technology, 994-32, Dongchun-Dong, Yeonsu-Ku,
Incheon 406-130, South Korea
2) Department of Metallurgy and Materials Science, Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka Prefecture University, 1-1,
Gakuen-Cho, Sakai, Osaka 599-8531, Japan
[Manuscript received February 17, 2006, in revised form May 29, 2006]

The effects of alloying elements on the as-cast microstructures and mechanical properties of heavy section
ductile cast iron were investigated to develop press die material having high strength and high ductility.
Measurements of ultimate tensile strength, 0.2% proof strength, elongation and unnotched Charpy impact
energy are presented as a function of alloy amounts within 0.25 to 0.75 wt pct range. Hardness is measured
on the broken tensile specimens. The small additions of Mo, Cu, Ni and Cr changed the as-cast mechanical
properties owing to the different as-cast matrix microstructures. The ferrite matrix of Mo and Ni alloyed cast
iron exhibits low strength and hardness as well as high elongation and impact energy. The increase in Mo and
Ni contents developed some fractions of pearlite structures near the austenite eutectic cell boundaries, which
caused the elongation and impact energy to drop in a small range. Adding Cu and Cr elements rapidly changed
the ferrite matrix into pearlite matrix, so strength and hardness were significantly increased. As more Mo and
Cr were added, the size and fraction of primary carbides in the eutectic cell boundaries increased through the
segregation of these elements into the intercellular boundaries.
KEY WORDS: Heavy section ductile cast iron; Alloying elements; As-cast microstructures;
As-cast mechanical properties

1. Introduction

2. Experimental

Ductile cast iron exhibits good ductility and

toughness because the graphite morphology is spherical. It has been reported that the strengthening
and toughening of ductile cast iron result from the
modification of the matrix structure when alloying
elements[1] are added or heat treatment[2] is applied.
The austempered ductile cast irons have been studied
to replace the forged or cast steel in the structural
parts, because they have many advantages such as
high strength and toughness, high machinability and
good corrosion resistance[36] . Recently, the heavy
section drawing dies in pressing steel sheet for the
automobile frame or panel are replaced by simple one
body-type as-cast ductile cast iron, which yields low
cost and shortened delivering time on producing press
dies. The casting die is generally produced via a
full mold process that uses the near-net shaped expanded polystyrene pattern replaced by the molten
metal[7] . As-cast ductile cast iron should meet the requirements of material properties to be used in cold
pressing dies including high strength and high ductility, but both mechanical properties are very difficult
to obtain within the same casting material. Thus, the
amounts of alloying elements are controlled to achieve
as-cast heavy section ductile cast having high strength
and ductility. The purpose of this paper is to obtain
experimental data for optimum alloy design of heavy
section ductile cast irons and to present the effects of
alloying elements on the as-cast microstructures and
mechanical properties for using cold press die material.

The chemical compositions of ductile cast irons

used for this work are presented in Table 1. The
main difference lies on the Mo, Cu, Ni and Cr alloy contents. The nominal compositions of alloying element additions are given as 0.25, 0.5 and
0.75 wt pct. The results are presented in terms
of the nominal additions for convenience in discussion. The ductile irons were obtained by melting
steel scrap, pig iron, graphite, Fe-75 wt pct Mn and
Fe-75 wt pct Si in the high frequency induction furnace. Spheroidizing and inoculation practices were
performed in a conventional sandwich method with
5.8 wt pct Mg-Fe-Si and 75 wt pct Si-Fe alloy, respectively. The metal was poured into furan resin molding
sand molds to obtain Y-shaped 75 mm blocks. Tensile specimens with the dimensions shown in Fig.1 and

Ph.D., to whom correspondence should be addressed,

E-mail: gscho@kitech.re.kr.

Fig.1 Y-shaped block and tensile specimen dimensions

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J. Mater. Sci. Technol., Vol.23 No.1, 2007

Table 1 Chemical compositions of ductile cast iron (wt pct)

Melt
A
B
C
D
E

C
3.61
3.57
3.60
3.64
3.66

Si
2.36
2.37
2.40
2.35
2.31

Mn
0.28
0.28
0.28
0.30
0.33

P
0.04
0.04
0.04
0.04
0.04

S
0.01
0.01
0.01
0.01
0.01

Mo

0.19/0.38/0.58

Cu

0.24/0.47/0.70

Ni

0.24/0.48/0.70

Cr

0.26/0.49

Mg
0.06
0.06
0.06
0.06
0.06

Table 2 Typical characteristics of spherical graphite in ductile cast iron

Melt
A
B
C
D
E

Area fraction/%
10.2
13.1
13.0
12.2
11.4

Nodule count/(Nmm2 )
141.0
153.3
154.6
152.6
148.0

Nodularity/(%)
90.4
88.5
87.5
87.3
86.0

Ave. diameter/m
30.3
33.0
32.8
31.8
31.5

Fig.2 As-cast microstructure of melt A as a reference casting

unnotched Charpy specimens (55 mm10 mm10 mm)

were machined from the bottom section of the Yblocks. Tensile specimens were taken from the bottom
section of Y-blocks in order to minimize casting defects such as microporosity. Three tensile specimens
were tested in a 250 kN hydraulic Instron universal
testing machine using a constant cross-head travel
speed of 4 mm/min. Unnotched Charpy specimens
were tested in a standard impact testing machine.
Hardness measurements were made on a standard
Brinell hardness machine with a load of 3000 kg and
10 mm steel ball. Metallographic specimens were
obtained from broken impact samples.
3. Results and Discussion
3.1 As-cast microstructures of ductile cast iron
Figure 2 shows the as-cast microstructure of melt
A as a reference cast iron given in Table 1. The micrographs show that the matrix structure is fully ferrite structure with a small fraction of pearlite near
the eutectic cell boundaries. The ferrite structures
are selected to serve as a base material by minimizing Mn content in 75 mm heavy section Y-block.
The spheroidal graphite nodules are well distributed
within the ferrite matrix. Two types of graphite in
size are observed microscopically, because of the slight
hypereutectic chemical composition of the reference
cast iron. The bigger graphites, about 50 m in diameter, are crystallized at the graphite+liquid region in
the Fe-C system. The smaller ones, under 50 m, are

formed through eutectic solidification range. Image

analysis of volume fraction, nodule count, nodularity and average diameter of graphite on the different
alloyed ductile cast irons are given in Table 2. The
characteristic values of graphites in the alloyed irons
are very similar to that of reference cast iron.
Figure 3 shows the as-cast microstructures of Mo
alloyed cast iron. The Mo alloyed ductile cast iron
of melt B exhibits substantial ferrite in the as-cast
structure with some pearlite at intercellular regions.
As more Mo is added, the matrix becomes fully ferrite and the area fraction of pearlite structure in the
eutectic cell boundaries is slightly increased. The Ni
alloyed ductile cast iron of melt D also has a mostly
ferrite matrix having some pearlite structures in the
cell boundaries. Adding up to 0.75 wt pct of Mo and
Ni elements results in the same tendency on the formation of a ferrite matrix. The addition of Mo and
Ni alloy will increase the hardenability of ductile cast
iron by delaying the transformation of austenite to
ferrite[8,9] . Also, the hardness of the ferrite matrix
increased from about 169 HV to about 188 HV when
more Mo was added. The Ni alloyed ductile cast iron
also exhibited an increase in matrix hardness. This
means that the addition of Mo and Ni strengthens
the ferrite matrix via solid solution hardening.
Figure 4 shows microstructures of the as-cast melt
C ductile cast iron. As more Cu is added, the amount
of ferrite structure is significantly decreased with Cu
content. For the melt C containing 0.5 wt pct Cu and
more, the matrix was abruptly changed into pearlite

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Fig.3 Microstructures of the as-cast melt B ductile cast iron with different Mo contents: (a) 0.25 wt pct Mo,
(b) 0.5 wt pct Mo, (c) 0.75 wt pct Mo

Fig.4 Microstructures of the as-cast melt C ductile cast iron with different Cu contents: (a) 0.25 wt pct Cu,
(b) 0.5 wt pct Cu, (c) 0.75 wt pct Cu

Fig.5 Microstructures of the as-cast ductile cast irons with different alloying elements: (a) 0.75 wt pct Mo
(b) 0.75 wt pct Cu, (c) 0.75 wt pct Ni, (d) 0.5 wt pct Cr

with a bull0 s-eye ferrite rim around the nodules. Figure 4 presents the ability of Cu to hinder the diffusion of carbon into graphite at the graphite-austenite
interface during the solid state transformation after
solidification. The Cu will increase as-cast strength
and hardness through increased pearlite formation[8] .
Figure 5 shows the as-cast microstructures of ductile cast iron with different alloying elements. While

the 0.75 wt pct Mo and 0.75 wt pct Ni alloyed ductile

cast irons exhibit a full ferrite matrix, the 0.75 wt pct
Cu and 0.5 wt pct Cr added ductile cast irons exhibit a bull0 s-eye structure within the pearlite matrix.
Carbide-like phases are observed in the middle of the
eutectic cell boundaries of the 0.75 wt pct Mo and
0.5 wt pct Cr alloyed ductile cast iron. These phases
are not observed at the intercellular regions of

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Fig.6 EDX line scan profiles measured on as-cast ductile cast irons: (a) 0.75 wt pct Mo, (b) 0.5 wt pct Cr

Fig.7 Variation in tensile strength and elongation of as-cast ductile cast irons having different alloying contents:
(a) tensile strength, (b) elongation

0.25 wt pct Mo and 0.25 wt pct Cr alloyed ductile

cast iron. Figure 6 presents the EDX line scan profiles
measured on the as-cast ductile cast irons. Figure 6(a)
shows the sharp increase in Mo peak at the eutectic
cell boundary. This means that the segregation of Mo
during solidification forms Mo-rich carbides in the cell
boundaries[1012] . Figure 6(b) shows the segregated
Cr-rich phase in the as-cast ductile cast iron. Mn was
positively segregated in the cell boundaries but Si was
negatively segregated[13] . The increased Mo and Mn
levels in the intercellular boundary in the alloyed iron
attributed to segregation caused considerable pearlite
formation near the cell boundaries. Carbide formation will deteriorate the ductility of as-cast ductile
cast iron[14,15] . Thus, the amount of Mo and Cr additions should be limited to a certain level considering
the thickness of castings.
3.2 Mechanical properties of as-cast ductile cast iron
Figure 7 shows the variation in tensile strength
and elongation of as-cast ductile cast iron having different alloying contents. The trends in terms of tensile
properties of Ni added ductile cast iron resemble that
of Mo added ductile iron. With the increase in the
amount of Mo and Ni additions, tensile strength is
slightly increased while elongation is decreased. The
strength of Mo and Ni alloyed ductile cast iron is
mainly dependent on the solid solution hardening of
ferrite matrix. It was also considered that the decrease in elongation was caused by the increase in
pearlite formation in the cell boundaries. As more Cu
element is added, tensile strength is steeply increased.
The tensile strength of 0.5 wt pct Cu added ductile
cast iron approaches at a maximum of 700 MPa, but
elongation quickly decreases below 5%. The trends
in terms of tensile properties of Cr added ductile iron

resemble that of Cu added ductile cast iron. Addition of up to 0.5 wt pct Cr could not reach a maximum of 700 MPa because of the formation of a large
bull0 s-eye ferrite structure. It is confirmed that the
tensile strength of as-cast ductile cast iron is strongly
dependent on the area fraction of pearlite, while elongation is inversely proportional to the pearlite fraction in the as-cast microstructure[1618] . Figure 8
presents the SEM micrographs of the fractured surface of tensile specimens for comparing two typical
fracture modes. Figure 8(a) shows the brittle fracture
surface of 0.75 wt pct Cu alloyed iron having pearlite
matrix with cleavage river patterns. The ductile fracture surface of 0.75 wt pct Ni alloyed iron is shown
in Fig.8(b). Plastic deformation of ferrite around the
boundary of graphite nodule is observed. Some cleavage brittle fracture area having a pearlite phase near
the intercellular region is also shown.
Figure 9 shows the variation in hardness and impact energy with different alloying additions. As more
alloying contents are added, the Brinell hardness of
Mo and Ni alloyed ductile cast iron is linearly increased, but that of Cu and Cr alloyed ductile cast
iron increased very steeply. The Brinell hardness of
ductile cast iron refers to the resistance of the matrix
and graphite to plastic deformation. The variation
in hardness with the alloying element is strongly determined by the as-cast microstructures. Generally,
the hardness of cast iron is increased by the volume
fraction of pearlite structure[19,20] . In this study, the
addition of Mo and Ni slightly increased the matrix
hardness via solid solution hardening. As more Cu
and Cr element is added, the hardness increased significantly owing to the high fraction of pearlite. The
Charpy impact energy of Mo and Ni alloyed iron is
gradually decreased, but that of the Cu and Cr

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101

Fig.8 SEM micrographs showing the fractured surface of tensile specimens: (a) 0.75 wt pct Cu, (b) 0.75 wt pct Ni

Fig.9 Variation in hardness and impact energy of as-cast ductile cast irons having different alloying contents:
(a) Brinell hardness, (b) Charpy impact energy

alloyed iron begins to decrease fast. This indicates

that ferrite matrix provides highly ductile cast iron
while pearlite yields highly strong cast iron. Mo was
found to reportedly segregate at cell boundaries and
aggravate the toughness of ductile cast iron[21] . However, the toughness of ductile cast iron was more dependent on the area fraction of ferrite than the area
fraction of intercellular carbide-like phases.
4. Conclusions
(1) The as-cast microstructures are strongly dependent on the alloying elements. The ferrite matrix
is mostly formed as Mo and Ni elements are added.
The addition of Cu and Cr rapidly changed the ferrite
into pearlite matrix.
(2) The Mo and Cr element are segregated at the
eutectic cell boundaries and caused the formation of
carbide-like phases. Therefore, the amount of Mo and
Cr added should be controlled considering the thickness of castings.
(3) The ferrite matrix of Mo and Ni alloyed ductile cast iron exhibited low strength and low hardness
but high elongation and high impact energy. The mechanical properties of pearlite cast iron alloyed with
Cu and Cr element were the exact opposite of those
of ferrite cast iron.
(4) Ferrite matrix provides highly ductile cast iron
while pearlite provides highly strong cast iron. The
toughness of ductile cast iron was more dependent on
the area fraction of ferrite than the area fraction of
intercellular carbide-like phases.
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