Interpretation of Cooling Curves
TYPICAL CHARACTERISTICS
of Cast Irons:
A Literature Review
C. Labrecque M.
Gagne
Rio Tinto Iron and Titanium Inc. Tracy,
Quebec, CANADA
ABSTRACT
A large number of technical papers have been published during the last
decades on the measurement and interpretation of cooling curves {CO of
cast irons. Initially developed to determine the carbon and silicon contents
of the irons, many attempts have been carried out to draw more
information from the analyses of cooling curves data, but with limited
success.
The first part of this review defines the typical characteristics of the CC
and its derivatives, which are correlated to the physical phenomena
occurring during the solidification and the solid stale transformations of
irons. The interpretation of CCs are more critical for a treated and
inoculated ductile iron than for a white iron. The second part of this paper
will review some of the important process parameters (treatment and
inoculant alloys, chemistry, fading, sample size, etc.) affecting the nature of
a CC of ductile iron (DI). Examples of CCs, obtained from irons treated
with different processing techniques, will be discussed. The difficulty to
extract general trends when interpreting CCs will be emphasized. Finally,
in order to illustrate potential applications of CCs, examples relating Dl
properties (hardness, shrinkage tendency, etc.) to CC will be discussed.
INTRODUCTION
For more than 25 years, cooling curves (CC) have been used to obtain
an on-site estimation of the %C, %Si and carbon equivalent (CE) of liquid
iron prior to the spheroidizing and inoculation treatments. According to the
results, the composition of the base iron could then be corrected before the
irreversible pouring step. This use of CCs, which is well documented in the
literature,1-3 has served as an incentive to identify other iron characteristics
derivable from such curves.
Several studies have been carried out to identify the additional
information that could be extracted from CCs. For example, expert systems
relating CCs to casting properties have been developed, creating an
intelligent data base that may be used to control the process and ensure the
manufacture of castings with the desired final properties. However, such
data bases are not exchangeable from one foundry to another, and could be
safely used only in foundries with a well-controlled and reproducible
process.
The objective of this paper is to review the physical significance of the
various temperatures measured with the cooling curves technique. The first
and second derivatives will also be interpreted in relation to the phenomena
occurring during solidification. The effect of process parameters, such as
inoculation, spheroidization, etc., on CC characteristics will be discussed,
and examples from the literature will be presented.
AFS Transactions
COOLING CURVES:
Cooling curve typical temperatures have been described by several
authors;4-6 nevertheless, the terminology and even the choice of the critical
points on the curves are not standardized. Table 1 summarizes the various
designations given to the critical temperatures found in the literature, and
their definition. Note that some critical points are specific to a type of iron.
For example, graphite liquidus temperature (TGL) exists in a hypereutectic
iron but not in a hypoeutectic one. Definitions for the first and second
derivatives of CC are listed in Table 2: the first derivative may be
considered as the rate of cooling, and the second derivative as the
acceleration of the cooling. Figure 1 presents a schematic of the most
typical points defined in Tables 1 and 2.
Additional information can be obtained from CC by measuring or
calculating the heat released during solidification. A technique developed to
evaluate heal flow variations is the computer-aided differential thermal
analysis (CA-DTA), which is described in References 5, 7 and 8.
An example of such a curve is shown in Fig. 2. The principle is to model
the CC of a neutral body (i.e., showing no phase transformation) by using
the linear section of the CC obtained for a given sample. The integral of the
area between the neutral body and the first derivative curve is the heat
generated by the formation of phases in the sample. Bradley et al. 9 have
evaluated the effect of various heat transfer models and showed that the
linear section chosen for the neutral body simulation (either in the liquid or
solid state) affects the calculated heat curve.
The latent heat of solidification of each phase has been evaluated by
different authors.7'8 With appropriate mathematical treatment and
calibration, it is then possible to evaluate the percentage of the phases
formed (% primary austenite vs. % eutectic (carbidic or graphitic)) using the
heat curve. Since cementite and grapliite have higher latent heats of
formation than do pure iron, the latent heat of formation of a cast iron
increases with carbon content. However, the latent heat of solidification is
not sufficient to determine the shape of the graphite particles formed
(compacted, nodular or flake). Even with additional criteria, conflicting
results have been reported regarding the ability to predict the shape of
graphite particles with CCs. This will be discussed in the next section.
Time
Fig. 1. Typical hypoeutectic iron CC and Us derivatives.
98-72 83