NITROGEN AND BORON EFFECT ON STRUCTURAL TRANSFORMATIONS TAKING PLACE IN DUCTILE IRON DURING AUSTEMPERING TREATMENT

The role of interstitial elements, i.e. nitrogen and boron, in the process of ductile iron solidification and heat treatment of castings was discussed. Austempering of ductile iron aims at obtaining an ausferritic matrix structure. Austempering is the kind of heat treatment that consists in cooling the alloy from the austenitising temperature, first, followed by further cooling in a salt bath at a constant temperature. The initial research studies proved favourable effect of boron microadditions on an increased rate of the ductile iron isothermal transformation process. The following cast iron grades were made: basic composition (designation 1/ADI), cast iron with an addition of nitrogen (designations 2/N1 and 4/N2), cast iron with an addition of boron (designations 3/B1 and 5/B2), and cast iron with additions of nitrogen and boron (designation 6/N B). The cast alloys were subjected to thermal analysis, their structure was examined, and hardness measurements were taken. The specimens cut out from ingots cast from the above mentioned alloys were subjected to heat treatment. Two austempering variants were applied, i.e. at temperatures of 275ºC and 350ºC. Mechanical tests were carried out (R_m, A₅, KV, HB) and microstructure was examined after both heat treatment variants. The analysis of the obtained results enabled determination of the effect of boron and nitrogen microadditions on the as-cast and austempered structure of the examined iron; the effect on selected mechanical properties was established as well.

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