The Austempering Kinetics, Microstructural Development and Processing Window in the Austempered, FE-3.2C-4.8AL Compacted Graphite Cast Iron

In the present study, austempering heat treatment was performed on compacted graphite aluminum cast iron with the chemical composition of 4.8%wt Al, 3.2%wt C, 0.81%wt Ni, 0.37%wt Mn, and 0.02%wt Mg. This study aims to investigate the effect of aluminum additions and removal of silicon on the kinetics of austempering transformation of Fe-3.2%C alloy. The cast samples were austenitized at 900 °C for 120 min and the isothermal austempering heat treatment was performed at 200 °C, 300 °C and 400 °C for 5, 30, 60, 120 and 180 minutes, respectively. Kinetics of this transformation was studied by X-Ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. The effect of temperature and time on the microstructure and hardness of the austempered samples was investigated and discussed. The presence of Al was seen to prolonged formation of the carbides from high carbon austenite, and that expanded the process window in the austempering transformation. Besides, the lower bainitic ferrite phase was observed in the austempered samples at 200 °C and 300 °C. Increasing austempering temperature to 400 °C changed the lower bainite to upper bainite structure. The volume fraction of austenite reached its maximum level (34.6 %) after austempering the samples at 400 °C for 30 minutes.