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Why Primary Graphite Is Bad!

Primary graphite can form defects in ductile iron castings if the carbon equivalent is too high relative to the cooling rate. Case A shows a hypereutectic alloy that precipitates primary graphite and austenite, resulting in less eutectic graphite available to reduce shrinkage. Case B is a eutectic alloy that avoids primary graphite and austenite, providing 20% more eutectic graphite to compensate for shrinkage. The optimal carbon equivalent depends on the casting's cooling rate to avoid primary graphite, which can cause defects. Thermal analysis using ATAS provides the best accuracy to determine the actual carbon equivalent.

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252 views

Why Primary Graphite Is Bad!

Primary graphite can form defects in ductile iron castings if the carbon equivalent is too high relative to the cooling rate. Case A shows a hypereutectic alloy that precipitates primary graphite and austenite, resulting in less eutectic graphite available to reduce shrinkage. Case B is a eutectic alloy that avoids primary graphite and austenite, providing 20% more eutectic graphite to compensate for shrinkage. The optimal carbon equivalent depends on the casting's cooling rate to avoid primary graphite, which can cause defects. Thermal analysis using ATAS provides the best accuracy to determine the actual carbon equivalent.

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qwsx123
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
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Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Why Primary Graphite is Bad!

Author: Rudolf Silln


CEO, NovaCast Foundry Solutions AB
Primary graphite can easily occur in ductile iron if
the carbon equivalent is too high in relation to the
cooling rate. Primary graphite can be the cause of
casting defects such as shrinkages and carbon
flotation. Let us compare two cases:
Case A: Assume a hypereutectic alloy with C=3.9
and Si=2.8 giving CEL=4.6% (see illustration).
During solidification primary graphite will
precipitate from the liquidus temperature until the
eutectic temperature is reached. Dissolved carbon
in the liquid is thereby reduced by 0.3% (4.6 - 4.3).
The dissolved carbon in the liquid is thus reduced
to 3.6% (3.9 - 0.3). If the austenite can dissolve
1.8% carbon then the amount of carbon available
to create eutectic graphite is 1.8% (3.6 -1.8). This eutectic graphite expands and can reduce, or in
optimal cases, eliminate shrinkages. Note that the primary graphite is precipitated too early and is
therefore not effective for reducing shrinkages that occur at a later stage in the solidification process.
Case B: Assume another alloy with C=3.9 and Si=1.6 giving CEL=4.3%. That alloy will start to solidify
as eutectic (no primary austenite, no primary graphite). Therefore the carbon in the liquid remains at
3.9% during the eutectic solidification. The amount of eutectic graphite is therefore 3.9 - 1.8=2.1%.
Thus this alloy has almost 20% more eutectic graphite than the hypereutectic alloy which is a quite
substantial improvement!
If the amount of eutectic graphite and its expansion is not sufficient to compensate for the contraction of
the austenite and the remaining liquid then micro shrinkages are created. Therefore it is very important
to avoid primary graphite.
Where is the eutectic point?
The traditional iron-carbon phase diagram shows that the eutectic point is around 4.3%. However, that is
during equilibrium conditions with a slow cooling rate.
Therefore, if the chemical composition of an alloy is higher than 4.3 e.g. 4.5 but the cooling rate is high,
the solidification will probably NOT be hypereutectic as expected but eutectic! An alloy that is
hypereutectic as calculated with the formula C+Si/4+P/2, will solidify with primary graphite in a casting
only if the cooling rate does not exceed a certain level. Especially for ductile iron it is important to use an
alloy that does not solidify with primary graphite in order to avoid defects. Therefore the optimal active
carbon equivalent (ACEL) value must be chosen depending on the cooling rate of the castings. In order
to be able to keep a certain target for ACEL, thermal analysis using grey solidification as in ATAS should
be used for maximum accuracy.

The diagram above illustrates the approximate location of the eutectic point as a function of the casting
modulus which is related to the cooling rate. The illustration below shows the occurrence of shrinkages
both for hypo- and hypereutectic compositions. For ductile iron the eutectic point seems to be more
like
a plateau.

Expansion of primary graphite


If the alloy solidifies as hypereutectic then the primary graphite grows directly in the contact with the

liquid
phase. Its expansion offsets the contraction of the liquid phase. An alloy with ACEL=4.5 will result in an
expansion of about 0.8% between the liquidus temperature (about 1200 C) and the eutectic
temperature.
The contraction of the liquid phase is about 0.75% which means that the total volume change from
liquidus to the eutectic temperature is more or less zero. If the casting uses a feeder then the effect
might be that the feeder does not start to pipe as there is no need for feed metal initially. Instead
shrinkages might develop close to the feeder neck when feed metal is required later in the solidification
process.
Below is a picture of a real case where the feeder did not pipe. The micro to the right of the photo shows
many large nodules which proves that the solidification was hypereutectic. When the solidification was
eutectic then the feeder piped and the shrinkage disappeared.

If the alloy solidifies slightly hypoeutectic (ACEL 4.2 4.25) then some primary austenite will be the first
phase. Then there is a contraction in liquid state and the feeders will start piping more easily. Another
effect might be that the graphite spheroids, precipitated at the eutectic temperature, are surrounded by
austenite at an earlier stage and their growth rate is thereby reduced. The graphite precipitation pattern
might be more gradual with more expansion at the end of freezing.

The picture illustrates the density changes for a sample with hypereutectic composition during
solidification. Initially the density increases resulting in a contraction in liquid state. When liquidus is
reached (TL) then primary graphite is precipitated and expands. At the same time the liquid contracts.
The expansion and contraction during this phase (S1) are almost the same which means that the
density does not change. When the low eutectic is reached (TElow), eutectic graphite is precipitated
which causes an expansion. The first part (S2) until TEhigh is reached is the recalescence. Then the
second phase of eutectic freezing commences (S3), often with a slight density increase especially close
to the solidus temperature (TS) also called end of freezing. Then the density increases further in solid
state (pattern mans shrinkage). The picture below shows a typical hypereutectic curve analyzed by
ATAS.

Conclusion:
Avoid precipitation of primary graphite! For maximum eutectic graphite adjust the chemical composition
to fit the solidification rate in the casting! Using chemical analysis to calculate the carbon equivalent is
not suitable due to the limited accuracy (+/- 0.05 or more). The foundryman might believe that the
carbon equivalent is within range when it is not! Use ATAS and the ACEL method in order to achieve the
desired target for ACEL with high accuracy (+/- 0.01).

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