Fractographic analysis of austempered ductile iron

This investigation involves a systematic study of the fracture surfaces of two grades of austempered ductile iron (ADI) broken under quasi-static, dynamic and cyclic loading conditions. The study used electron microscopy, optical microscopy and image post-processing. The results show that the predominating fracture mechanism in ADI upon impact loading changes from quasi-cleavage to ductile (with little areas of cleavage facets) as the testing temperature increases. Noticeably, even at the lower temperatures tested, the fracture surface of ADI shows clear signs of ductile fracture mechanisms. In particular, graphite nodule cavities suffer marked plastic deformation. Fracture after bending tests at room temperature was characterized by a mix of quasi-cleavage facets, deformation of the contour of nodular cavities and microvoid coalescence. In the case of fatigue fracture at room temperature, the fracture surfaces show a flat appearance which has notorious differences with those reported for other loading conditions, but the typical fatigue striations were not found. The particular features identified on the fatigue fracture surfaces can be used to identify fatigue failures. It was also shown that the determination of the direction of main crack propagation by using the experimental methodology proposed earlier by the authors is applicable to ADI fractured by impact and quasi-static loads. The results provide information potentially useful to fractographic analyses of ADI, particularly in samples that fail in service under unknown conditions.