The paper presents recent developments concerning the formation of surface layer in austempered ductile iron castings. It was found that the traditional methods used to change the properties of the surface layer, i.e. the effect of protective atmosphere during austenitising or shot peening, are not fully satisfactory to meet the demands of commercial applications. Therefore, new ways to shape the surface layer and the surface properties of austempered ductile iron castings are searched for, to mention only detonation spraying, carbonitriding, CVD methods, etc.
The study presented in this paper concerned the possibility to apply a heat treatment process to ductile cast-iron thin-walled castings in order to remove excessive quantities of pearlite and eutectic cementite precipitates and thus meet the customer’s requirements. After determining the rates of heating a casting up to and cooling down from 900°C feasible in the used production heat treatment furnace (vh = 300°C/h and vc = 200°C/h, respectively), dilatometric tests were carried out to evaluate temperatures Tgr, TAc1start, TAc1end, TAr1start, and TAr1end. The newly acquired knowledge was the base on which conditions for a single-step ferritizing heat treatment securing disintegration of pearlite were developed as well as those of a two-step ferritization process guaranteeing complete disintegration of cementite and arriving at the required ferrite and pearlite content. A purely ferritic matrix and hardness of 119 HB was secured by the treatment scheme: 920°C for 2 hours / vc = 60°C/h / 720°C for 4 hours. A matrix containing 20–45% of pearlite and hardness of 180–182 HB was obtained by applying: 920°C for 2 hours or 4 hours / vc = 200°C/h to 650°C / ambient air.
Heat treatment processes, due to qualitative requirements for the cast machinery components and restrictions on energy consumption resulting on the one hand from environmental concerns, and on the other hand from a requirements coming from minimization of manufacturing costs, are resulting in searching after a technologies enabling obtainment of satisfactory results, in form of improved mechanical properties mainly, while minimizing (limiting) parameters of successive operations of the heat treatment. Heat treatment of the T6 type presented in this paper consists in operations of heating of investigated alloys to suitably selected temperature (range of this temperature was evaluated on the base of the ATD method), holding at such temperature for a short time, and next rapid cooling in water (20 oC) followed by artificial ageing, could be such technology in term s of above mentioned understanding of this issue. Performed T6 heat treatment with limited parameters of solutioning operation resulted in visible increase in tensile strength Rm of AlSi7Mg, AlSi7Cu3Mg and AlSi9Cu3(Fe) alloys.
The influence of the hold time of the austempering heat treatment at 280°C on the microstructure and corrosion resistance in NaCl-based media of austempered ductile iron was investigated using X-ray diffraction, micro-hardness measurements, corrosion tests and surface observations. Martensite was only found in the sample which was heat treated for a short period (10 minutes). Corrosion tests revealed that this phase does not play any role in the anodic processes. Numerous small pits were observed in the α-phase which is the precursor sites in all samples (whatever the value of the hold time of the austempering heat treatment).
The effect of heat treatment on the corrosion resistance of Ti-6Al-4V alloy was investigated in the artificial saliva solution (MAS). It has been revealed that the thermal annealing treatment temperature favors the cathodic reactions and reduce the protective properties of passive film. The heat treatment causes the enrichment of β phase in vanadium. The lowest corrosion resistance in the artificial saliva revealed the Ti-6Al-4V alloy heated for 2 hours at 950°C. Heterogeneous distribution of vanadium within the β phase decreases the corrosion resistance of the Ti-6Al-4V.
In the present time, advanced high strength steel (AHSS) has secured a dominant place in the automobile sector due to its high strength and good toughness along with the reduced weight of car body which results in increased fuel efficiency, controlled emission of greenhouse gases and increased passengers’ safety. In the present study, four new advanced high strength steels (AHSS) have been developed using three different processing routes, i.e., thermomechanical controlled processing (TMCP), quenching treatment (QT), and quenching & tempering (Q&T) processes, respectively. The current steels have achieved a better combination of the high level of strength with reasonable ductility in case of TMCP as compared to the other processing conditions. The achievable ultrahigh strength is primarily attributed to mixed microstructure comprising lower bainite and lath martensite as well as grain refinement and precipitation hardening.