Effect of Graphite Morphology on the Thermomechanical Performance of Compacted Graphite Iron

Abstract

Compacted graphite iron (CGI) has gained significant attention in automotive industry applications thanks to its superior thermomechanical properties and competitive price. Its main fracture mechanism at the microscale—interfacial damage and debonding between graphite inclusions and a metallic matrix—can happen under high-temperature service conditions as a result of a mismatch in the coefficients of thermal expansion between the two phases of CGI. Macroscopic fracture in cast iron components can be initiated by interfacial damage at the microscale under thermomechanical load. This phenomenon was investigated in various composites but still lacks information for CGI, with its complex morphology of graphite inclusions. This research focuses on the effect of this morphology on the thermomechanical performance of CGI under high temperatures. A set of three-dimensional finite-element models was created, with a unit cell containing a single graphite inclusion embedded in a cubic domain of the metallic matrix. Elastoplastic behaviour was assumed for both phases in numerical simulations. The effect of graphite morphology on the thermomechanical performance of CGI was investigated for pure thermal loading, focusing on a high-temperature response of its constituents. The results can provide a deeper understanding of the correlation between graphite morphology and CGI fracture mechanisms under high temperatures.