Austempering kinetics of Cu-Ni alloyed austempered Ductile Iron

The aim of the paper was to investigate the effect of austempering parameters (time and temperature) on the microstructure and mechanical properties of ADI alloyed with 1.5% Cu and 1.6% Ni (in wt.%) in order to establish the optimal processing window. It was shown that the strength, elongation and impact energy strongly depend on the amounts of ausferritic ferrite and retained austenite. A processing window was established according to the results of the kinetics of the isothermal transformation. The results show that the processing window for ADI alloyed with Cu and Ni at 350 °C was relatively wide, while the processing window for the isothermal transformation at 400 °C becomes narrower and shifted to the left. The processing window of ADI austempered at 300 °C is also narrower, but shifted to the right towards the longer times compared to the processing window of ADI austempered at 350 °C.