Hardness and Impact Toughness of Niobium Alloyed Austempered Ductile Iron

Abstract

The effect of different austempering holding times on the hardness and impact toughness of 0.254% niobium alloyed austempered ductile iron was investigated in this study. Molten ductile iron was prepared in an induction furnace with capacity of 60kg. Samples with dimension of 300m x Ø25mm in form of Y block double cylinder was constituted and solidified samples were then machined in accordance to ASTM E23 for impact test specimens. Samples were ground and polished before Rockwell hardness test was conducted. Austempering heat treatment process with austenitizing temperature of 900°C for 1 hour and austempering temperature of 350°C for 1 hour, 2 hours and 3 hour holding times were then carried out. The results from this research indicated that austempering the sample for 1 hour resulted in significant improvement of the impact toughness values but increasing the austempering holding time deficiently reduced the values. On the contrary, the hardness of niobium alloyed austempered ductile iron continues to increase with respect to longer austempering holding times.