Bela V.
Kovacs, Sr
Atmosphere Furnace Co/Technical Center
Livonia, MI
It is difficult even for the expert eye to
identify the various phases in austempered
ductile iron (ADI) on a black and white
micrograph or during microscopic examination.
Austenite, undissolved ferrite and eutectic
carbide are all white etching phases in the
austempered matrix structure. These phases are
the most difficult ones to distinguish from each
other.
A simple technique has been developed to
solve this problem. With this technique the
various phases appear in different and vibrant
colors under the microscope with excellent
consistency. The procedure for the sample
preparation is the following.
An unmounted ADI sample is polished (or
removed from the mount after polishing) and
etched with 2.4% Nital. The purpose of etching
is to give definition to the phase boundaries and
not to develop colors. The sample is then heated
in an oven at about 500F for four to eight hours
in air, without protective atmosphere and cooled
to room temperature. The sample will appear
dark blue to the naked eye when in it prepared
properly and ready for metallographic
examination. This process is called heat tinting.
Heat tinting is an oxidation process and
causes the various phases to appear in distinct
colors. These colors in ADI are:
unreacted austenite……………...light blue
reacted high carbon austenite….purple
ferrite……………………………....beige
eutectic carbide…………………..white or cream
martensite…………………………dark blue
The higher the carbon content in the reacted
austenite, the darker the purple color. The
carbon content can be estimated in the reacted
austenite by its color.
The matrix structure shown in the
accompanying color micrograph is neither
desired nor representative of ADI structure.
However, it is a good illustration of all the
common phases that appear in ADI, desired or
not.
The most undesirable phase is the
metastable unreacted retained austenite. It
usually appears in the cell boundary area due to
solute segregation. This austenite is prone to
martensitic transformation either on cooling to
room temperature or when a part is stressed,
such as during machining. This austenite is
represented by the light blue color. Note the
dark blue martensite plates embedded in the
light blue austenite. The purple or high carbon
austenite in the matrix is stable both
mechanically and thermally. The beige acicular
ferrite needles are mixed with the purple high
carbon austenite. This combination of phases,
high carbon austenite and acicular ferrite,
constitutes the desired austempered matrix
structure.
Massive eutectic carbide particles are
shown in cream color. Heat tinting is also useful
to detect undissolved ferrite produced by silicon
segregation. This ferrite is stable and is in
equilibrium with austenite during austenitization,
thus making austenitization incomplete.
The above technique is a powerful tool to
determine phase distribution accurately in ADI or
any cast iron. It is simple, inexpensive and
available to any size foundry operation. Toaster
ovens quite often are suitable for heat tinting.
This technique was developed while the
author was associated with the research
staff of the Ford Motor Co.
The author is indebted to L. Bartosiewicz
for taking the photograph shown in this
report.
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