Cast Iron H

Malleable Cast Iron and Grey Cast Iron

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Cast Irons

Malleable Cast Iron Grey Cast Iron

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Cast Iron H
Malleable Cast Iron and Grey Cast Iron

Structure, Composition and Properties of Malleable Cast Iron

• Malleable cast iron is produced from white cast iron with a hypoeutectic
composition and low silicon content.

• In malleable cast iron, graphite is present in the form of clusters in the matrix
of pearlite and ferrite.

• It is produced by controlled heat treatment of white cast iron at about 900oC.

• This special heat treatment is called tempering.

• In the process of tempering, two types of malleable cast iron are produced:
• Black malleable cast iron
• White malleable cast iron

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Cast Iron H
Malleable Cast Iron and Grey Cast Iron

Structure, Composition and Properties of Malleable Cast Iron

• The composition of white cast iron used to produce malleable cast iron is
listed in the table below:

Types of Malleable Cast Iron Composition (weight %)

C Si Mn P S
White 3.0 – 3.4 0.5 – 0.8 0.2 – 0.5 0.12 0.1 – 0.3

Black 2.4 – 2.8 0.8 – 1.1 0.4 – 0.7 0.12 0.1

Table 1: Composition of base materials for black and white tempering

• The two varieties of malleable cast iron differ in microstructure, mechanical

properties and chemical composition.

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Cast Iron H
Malleable Cast Iron and Grey Cast Iron

Structure, Composition and Properties of Malleable Cast Iron

• Malleable cast iron is used to cast pieces with a mean wall thickness of
5 to 20 mm. Parts can be made as thin as 1 to 2 mm or as thick as 50 mm.

• Malleable cast iron differs from grey iron, in that the temper carbon (black
malleable cast iron) is rounded rather than flaky.

Black Tempering
• Black tempering is used to decompose the cementite into its constituents
according to the reaction equation:
Fe3C  3 Fe  C

Note: Cementite is responsible for the brittleness of white cast iron.

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Cast Iron H
Malleable Cast Iron and Grey Cast Iron

Structure, Composition and Properties of Malleable Cast Iron

• Black tempering is carried out according to
time and temperature in an inert gas
atmosphere as shown in Figure 1.

• The cementite of ledeburite decomposes

at:
• A temperature of annealing between
940 and 960o C
• Holding time between 16 to 20 hours

Figure 1: The temperature-time diagram

of black tempering

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Cast Iron H
Malleable Cast Iron and Grey Cast Iron

Structure, Composition and Properties of Malleable Cast Iron

• On further cooling, the secondary cementite-segregation is also decomposed.

• The time required to complete a heat treatment cycle takes 50 to 110 hours,
depending on the technological conditions and the composition of the white
cast iron.

• After the heat treatment cycle, the decomposed graphite is accumulated in

the ferrite matrix through atomic diffusion of carbon.

• The result is called black tempered malleable cast iron, and contains graphite
in the form of temper carbon embedded in the ferrite.

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Cast Iron H
Malleable Cast Iron and Grey Cast Iron

Structure, Composition and Properties of Malleable Cast Iron

White Tempering
• White tempering can also be used to decompose cementite.

• However, in white tempering the decomposition of cementite is accomplished

by burning the carbon in an oxidizing atmosphere according to the reaction
equation:
CO2  C  2 CO

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Cast Iron H
Malleable Cast Iron and Grey Cast Iron

Structure, Composition and Properties of Malleable Cast Iron

• White tempering is carried out according to the
time and temperature as shown in Figure 2.

• Initially, white cast iron is heated to a temperature

between 950 and 1000oC in oxidizing atmosphere
for 50 to 60 hours.

• As a result, first the cementite constituent of the Figure 2: Temperature-time diagram

of white tempering
ledeburite decomposes.

• After this, the free carbon burns out of the surface

layers.

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Cast Iron H
Malleable Cast Iron and Grey Cast Iron

Structure, Composition and Properties of Grey Cast Iron

• Grey cast iron contains carbon in the form of graphite flakes.

• Since the fractured surface of this alloy looks greyish, this iron is called grey
cast iron.

• A large percentage of cementite is decomposed in the form of graphite flakes

due to the slow cooling from liquid state.

• Silicon is essential for the preparation of grey cast iron.

• If silicon is alloyed with ferrite and about 2% carbon, the carbide of iron
becomes unstable. It causes the carbon to rapidly emerge from the solution as
graphite, leaving a matrix of relatively pure soft iron.

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Cast Iron H
Malleable Cast Iron and Grey Cast Iron

Structure, Composition and Properties of Grey Cast Iron

• Grey cast iron has less tensile strength and shock resistance than steel.

• The strength of grey iron increases as the amount of free graphite is reduced
and the graphite flakes become finer.

• During the cooling process, the structure solidifies at 1147oC, resulting in

austenite and cementite. They are further solidified at 723oC, producing
cementite and pearlite.

• This is called white iron because of the white appearance of its fractured
surface.

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Cast Iron H
Malleable Cast Iron and Grey Cast Iron

Structure, Composition and Properties of Grey Cast Iron

• The casting of this iron will have sections of various thickness.

• The rate of cooling of a part of a casting will depend on the thickness of the
section. The thinner the section is, more rapidly it is cooled.

• This causes variations in the properties of different parts of the casting. The
properties of grey cast iron depend on the cooling rate.

• The British standard specifications for grey iron are in terms of the properties
of a test piece machined from a specific size casting: a cast bar with a diameter
of 30mm.

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Cast Iron H
Malleable Cast Iron and Grey Cast Iron

Structure, Composition and Properties of Grey Cast Iron

• This iron is specified in British standards by a grade number which gives the
minimum tensile strength in the standard test piece. The following table shows
some examples:

Grade %C equivalent Tensile strength MPa % Clongation Brinell Hardness Impact strength
150 4.5 150 0.6 100-170 8-13

200 4.2 200 0.4 120-190 8-16

250 3.85 250 0.5 145-220 13-23

300 3.65 300 0.5 165-240 16-31

350 3.5 350 0.5 185-260 24-47

Table 2: Properties of grey cast iron

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