Effect of Thermo-mechanical Processing on Structure and Properties of Dual-Phase Matrix ADI with Different Si-Contents

The improvement in the combination between strength and ductility of austempered ductile iron with dual matrix structure was investigated in two ductile irons having different silicon contents, namely 2.6 wt% and 4.0 wt%. The structure was produced in a thermo-mechanical simulator, equipped with a dilatometry system. The effect of silicon content on the transformation kinetics and mechanical properties was studied. For both ductile irons, the influence of introducing ferrite into the matrix on the structure development and mechanical properties was investigated and compared to those of completely ausferritic matrix. Increasing the Si-content widened the intercritical region and shifted it to higher temperature range. The former effect renders the intercritical annealing process more controllable. The introduction of the ferrite phase accelerated the ausferrite transformation kinetics and improved both the ductility and the formability index (ductility × ultimate strength), while both yield and ultimate strength declined.