Investigations on the fracture toughness of austempered ductile irons austenitized at different temperatures

Ductile cast iron was austenitized at four different temperatures and subsequently austempered at six different temperatures. Plane strain fracture toughness was evaluated under all the heat treatment conditions and correlated with the microstructural features such as the austenite content and the carbon content of the austenite. Fracture mechanism was studied by scanning electron microscopy. It was found that the optimum austempering temperature for maximum fracture toughness decreased with increasing austenitizing temperature. This could be interpreted in terms of the microstructural features. A study of the fracture mechanism revealed that good fracture toughness is unlikely to be obtained when austempering temperature is less than half of the austenitizing temperature on the absolute scale. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.