Nucleus of nodular graphite is Bucky-Ball

There were many hypotheses about the spheroidizing mechanism of nodular graphite.Among them, Chen Sysen’s theory was the most perfect. He considered: in the liquid cast iron, sometimes the groups of carbon atoms, appearing with the form of large planes of molecules, get together and sometimes they separate away. When the temperature decreases below the liquidus, the groups of carbon atoms (large planes of molecules), which occasionally get together, will form a polyhedron. The more the faces of the polyhedron are, the smoother the ball will be. This polyhedron is exactly the nucleus of nodular graphite.