Dissemination of IT for the Promotion of Materials Science (DoITPoMS)

DoITPoMS Micrograph Library Full Record for Micrograph 395

Full Record for Micrograph 395

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Micrograph no
395
Brief description
Cast iron with magnesium induced spheroidised graphite
Keywords
alloy Link to MATTER Glossary entry for alloy, carbon, cast iron Link to MATTER Glossary entry for cast iron, iron, manganese, metal
Categories
Metal or alloy
System
Fe-C-X   Link to phase diagram
Composition
Fe, C 2-4, other constituents (wt% typical) (Cast iron)
Standard codes
Reaction
Processing
Chill cast
Applications
Sample preparation
Nital
Technique
Reflected light microscopy
Length bar
100 μm
Further information
Cast iron is a brittle material and it is advantageous to process it in such a way to improve its ductility. The brittleness is partially due to the graphite flakes which act as nucleation sites for cracks. Therefore it is an advantage to have the graphite present as spheres. This can be achieved by a heat treatment regime or by the addition of a small amount of Mg which poisons the graphite growth directions.
Contributor
Dr R F Cochrane
Organisation
Department of Materials, University of Leeds
Date
04/09/02
Licence for re-use
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International
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