A Contribution to New Material Standards for Ductile Irons and Austempered Ductile Irons

Some results of materials characterization activities, dedicated to classical and notch mechanics fatigue and elastoplastic properties, have already been published for some Ferritic–Pearlitic Ductile Iron, including the patented heat treated Isothermed (IDI) and Austempered Ductile Iron (ADI) grades. Others have not yet been published. The possible use of all of these results in new standards is discussed in this paper. It is proposed that new standards should provide a criterion that is able to measure the process quality that represents more accurately the actual market needs and manufacturing capabilities. Classification of grades, considered by existing standards, is based on minimum properties for strength and ductility parameters that are separately evaluated. A different approach that is based on a quality index, which considers strength and ductility all in one, is proposed. However, this new proposed approach may not be sufficient to provide a satisfactory classification for the ADIs. This is because their fracture mechanical behavior and machinability can be correlated with their austenite stability. It could also be insufficient for the classification of the recent High Silicon Solid Solution Strengthened Ductile Irons that exhibit a decreasing ultimate tensile strength/proof stress ratio with increasing Si. For construction steels, fracture mechanics properties are sometimes believed to be related to the Charpy impact energy. This paper introduces an innovative practical and inexpensive data analysis, performed on the tensile test curve, which appears to be a potential estimator of fracture mechanical properties, at least for ADIs, where said properties could be correlated with the austenite stability.