Ausferritic cast iron as-cast

Important results from the project

The purpose with the pre-study was to investigate if it is possible to alloy with for example molybdenum, silicon, manganese and copper to produce an ausferritic structure in cast iron. The aim was to develop and optimize alloys to produce ausferritic cast iron as-cast. The aim and purpose has been fulfilled by the foundry experiments performed showing that it is possible to produce ausferritic structures as-cast, without heat treatment. Another aim was to identify applications where existing materials advantageously can be replaced and also this has been fulfilled.

Expected long term effects

Foundry experiments has been performed in the pre-study showing that it is possible to produce ausferritic cast iron as-cast, without heat treatment. The pre-study also showed that the amount of Mo has influence on the effect of the cooling rate and also increase the properties in spheroidal iron. An application has been identified where replacement of existing material would lead to more than half of costs. Therefore, the concept is considered to have large influence to decrease costs but also to increase a products performance to almost the same cost.

Approach and implementation

The starting point for the project is results found in the literature describing how ausferritic structures can be produced as-cast. The original plan for the pre-study was to focus on a summary of what has been done earlier, perform foundry experiments and to identify and evaluate how ausferritic cast iron can be used to replace existing material. In the pre-study the potential of the concept has been verified and possible applications identified. Largest effort and focus during the work has been on the experimental part as the result from that part is the basis for the continued work.