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Researchers Use New Technique to Gain Better Picture of Cast Iron Microstructures
12/09/2015 - U.S. government and industry researchers have developed a new -- and more affordable -- technique to look at the microstructure of cast iron, which could lead to better manufacturing processes that yield an even better end product.
The researchers, from heavy equipment manufacturer Caterpillar Inc. and America’s Argonne National Laboratory, used high-energy x-ray tomography to image graphite microstructures in the cast iron.
Learning more about the structures -- their shape, their spatial arrangement in the material and the phase connectivity -- is important because they are key factors that determine the properties of cast iron, the researchers said in a statement.
"By understanding the structure, it will be possible to develop alloys with improved mechanical and thermal properties. This implies that for applications such as vehicle engine and engine components, one could use less material and reduce overall vehicle weight, which would translate into fuel savings," said Dileep Singh, group leader of thermal-mechanical research at Argonne National Laboratory's Center for Transportation Research and technical lead of the study.
Their work appears in the journal Scripta Materialia.
Their results showed that high-energy x-ray tomography can reveal previously unknown behaviors of graphite in cast iron, such as the growth of nodules, as it undergoes various treatments. The x-rays can also unambiguously classify the particle type involved in the behavior, which is critical to identifying the structure-process relationship.
Learning more about the structures -- their shape, their spatial arrangement in the material and the phase connectivity -- is important because they are key factors that determine the properties of cast iron, the researchers said in a statement.
"By understanding the structure, it will be possible to develop alloys with improved mechanical and thermal properties. This implies that for applications such as vehicle engine and engine components, one could use less material and reduce overall vehicle weight, which would translate into fuel savings," said Dileep Singh, group leader of thermal-mechanical research at Argonne National Laboratory's Center for Transportation Research and technical lead of the study.
Their work appears in the journal Scripta Materialia.
Their results showed that high-energy x-ray tomography can reveal previously unknown behaviors of graphite in cast iron, such as the growth of nodules, as it undergoes various treatments. The x-rays can also unambiguously classify the particle type involved in the behavior, which is critical to identifying the structure-process relationship.
