CAST IRON INOCULAtion

THE TECHNOLOGY OF GRAPHITE SHAPE CONTROL

ISO 9001 ISO 14001 ISO/TS 16949

CAST IRON INOCULATION

THE TECHNOLOGY OF GRAPHITE SHAPE CONTROL
Elkem manufactures and markets a series of high quality inoculants to treat cast iron and ensure the production of an ideal graphite shape, distribution and freedom from chill (cementite). All inoculants are available in sizes suit able for ladle or in-stream additions. This brochure describes some of the conditions in the production of cast iron that call for the addition of an inoculant to ensure the reliable production of a sound, strong, tough, machinable cast ing. The mechanism of inoculation and graphite nucleation in cast iron during solidification is also described.

What is Inoculation of Cast Iron?

Inoculation is the means of controlling structures and properties of cast iron by minimizing undercooling and increasing the number of nucleation sites during solidification. An inoculant is a material added to the liquid iron just prior to casting that will provide suitable sites for nucleation of graphite during the subsequent cooling. Tradi tionally, inoculants have been based on graphite, ferrosilicon or calcium silicide. Almost exclusively, inoculants today are ferrosilicon based containing small quantities of active elements such as Al, Ba, Ca, Sr, Zr and RE (Rare Earth metals). The purpose of inoculation is to assist in providing sufficient nucleation sites for dissolved carbon to precipitate as graphite rather than iron carbide (cementite, Fe3C). This is done by pre venting undercooling below the meta stable eutectic temperature where carbidic (white) structures are formed. The iron solidification mechanism is prone to form chilled iron structures when the inoculation is inadequate. There are several reasons why chilled structures are normally undesirable. They are hard and brittle and interfere with machining, necessitate additional heat treatment operations, resulting in nonconformance with specifications and, in general, increase the total cost of production. Inoculation changes the structure of cast iron by altering the solidification process. A look at the solidification process for hypoeutectic grey iron (iron with a carbon equivalent less than 4.3) helps in understanding the effect of inoculation. The first metal to solidify in hypoeutec tic grey iron is primary austenite. As cooling continues, the remaining iron grows richer in dissolved carbon. Even tually, the liquid reaches the eutectic composition of 4.3% carbon equivalent, at which final or eutectic solidification would start under equilibrium conditions. However, equilibrium solidification does not occur under practical foundry con ditions. Due to variations in chemistry, pouring temperature, solidification rate, section thickness and other conditions, the metal will cool below the eutectic temperature before the start of final solidification. If the undercooling is slight, random graphite flakes form uniformly in the iron matrix, see Figure 1. This is known as Type A graphite. As the undercooling increases, the graphite will branch, forming abnormal patterns. This is known as Types B, D and E graphite. A further increase in undercooling will suppress the formation of graphite and results in a hard white iron carbide structure. The role of the inoculant is to produce nuclei in the liquid iron melt which enhance the graphite nucleation with a low degree of undercooling. This will in turn, promote the formation of Type A graphite structures in grey iron, and a high number of small graphite nodules in ductile iron.

Figure 1: Graphite type versus under cooling.

1. Structure and Phases in Cast Iron

The structure of cast iron has a domi nant influence on strength and machinability, and in order to obtain a machinable grey iron structure for thin sections, the addition of an inoculant to molten iron is widely practiced and often absolutely necessary. For convenience, potential difficulties with machinability can be determined by carrying out a hardness test (Brinell hardness) on iron castings and, in general, machinability improves with decreasing hardness. The cast iron structure can be influenced at two distinct stages in the production route: during solidification during heat treatment However, for economic reasons, the desired structure should be achieved during solidification without the neces sity for heat treatment.

The microstructure of an iron casting consists of several phases, each having varying levels of carbon, iron and other elements present. Table 1 shows the analysis and specific densities of the solid and liquid phases which take part in the solidification process. When solidification is complete, the following combination of phases may be found: 1) Austenite + Graphite = GREY structure 2) Austenite + Graphite + Cementite = MOTTLED structure 3) Austenite + Cementite = WHITE structure

This review demonstrates that solidifi ca tion results in a minimum of two solid phases; and austenite is present in all the phase combinations. As the casting cools, the austenite subsequently trans forms to pearlite and/or ferrite in solid state (eutectoid transformation). Of all the solid phases listed above, cementite has the highest hardness (~660 HB), whilst graphite is a rela tively soft material of low density, which can act as a lubricant. Hardness and machinability of the as-cast structure are, therefore, influenced by the relative

amounts of cementite and graphite, with austenite playing only a minor role.

Table 1: Approximate analysis and specific densities of phases in the solidification range of cast iron with 2.4% Si.

2. Structure Stability
A metastable white or mottled structure can be transformed into a stable grey structure by annealing, but the reverse transformation is not possible as the stable structure represents the lowest possible energy level (at a given temperature and composition). The graphite produced by annealing will have a different structure to that formed during solidification. Cementite, austenite and liquid iron have similar densities and all contain carbon in solution, see Table 1. No major redistri bution of the atom species is required for a white structure to be produced during solidification. However, the formation of a stable grey structure containing graphite is quite different. Graphite precipitated from molten iron is virtually pure carbon, and since it has a lower specific density than the alternative phases; a major redistri bution of atoms is required to develop a stable structure. A slow rate of soli dification is therefore more likely to produce a grey iron structure. The precipitation of cementite, re quir ing less atom redistribution than graphite, will be more likely during rapid solidi fication. This can be demonstrated by examining a typical wedge test speci men. The narrow tip of the wedge soli difies at a faster rate than the thicker section at the base of the wedge, and will show a white structure whilst the area of slow cooling at the base will display a grey structure, see Figure 2. Consequently, a slow rate of solidifi cation (slow cooling rate) and a small value of undercooling encourages the formation of a grey structure with good machinability and discourages a hard white structure.

Figure 2: Chill Wedge with fast solidifying white tip and slowly cooled grey base.

3. Influence of Elements on As-Cast Structure

Within the composition of cast iron, graphitizing elements will promote the carbon-carbon bond to produce graph ite in the as-cast structure, whereas carbide stabilizing elements promote the carboniron bond and cementite will appear in the structure. Table 2 lists a number of such stabilizing elements. As an example, in malleable cast irons the need for the as-cast structure to solidify white determines that the silicon level is much lower than in grey irons. Also, since chromium is a carbide promoting element, it has to be kept at a low level to allow transformation to a graphitic structure during subsequent heat treatment. In normal furnace charge materials, steel and external cast iron scrap may be heterogeneous materials, especially on different delive ries, with contents of Cr, Cu, Sn, Sb, V, Mo, Ti, etc., depending on the original source and ultimately on the ability of the scrap dealer. Pig iron produced from steel scrap can also display a similar variable response to inoculation due to fluctuating trace element contents. A more consistent response to inoculation is attainable by adopting a charge containing a reason able proportion of ore-based pig iron due to its low level of trace elements of the carbide stabilising type. Controlling the concentration of trace elements allows the foundryman a means of promoting grey as-cast structures and, also, helps in avoiding other un desirable effects of trace elements on microstructure and properties.

Table 2: Graphitizing and carbide promoting elements.

4. Influence of Nuclei on Solidfication Structure

When crystallisation of eutectic cast iron in chilled specimens is studied, a gradual advance of the solidification front is revealed. Transformation does not take place instantaneously or uniformly over a cross section. Initial solidification occurs at the surface from distinct crystallization centres and after some time a solid/liquid interface forms. Other isolated crystallisation centres are active in the remaining melt and initiate the formation of solid, see Figures 3 and 4. These isolated areas are called eutectic cells. Eventually, cells grow at the expense of the liquid, and a solid cast structure develops. Each eutectic cell consists of graphite and austenite with graphite as the primary phase. Precipitation is initiated by randomly distributed crystallisation centres, called nuclei. These nuclei offer favourable sites for the deposition of carbon atoms and, subsequently, precipitation of graphite and austenite onto existing graphite continues. The morphology of these cells for grey iron shows a marked difference with that for nodular iron, as can be seen from Figure 3.  Grey iron: graphite lamellae start growing from a common centre and stays in contact with the melt as aus tenite fills the spaces between the lamellae.  Nodular iron: a graphite nodule forms first and is surrounded by austenite at a later stage. In eutectic nodular iron, the nodule number is virtually identical with the number of eutectic cells. The mechanism described is for eutectic solidification and is not influenced by the presence of kish (primary) graphite or austenite dendrites. The nuclei substances can be more easily observed in nodular graphite iron than in grey iron, since it is easy to locate the centre of a graphite spheroid. Measure ments have shown that the nuclei are between 0.5 to 2.0 microns in diameter, with a bulk chemical composition of magnesium sulphide and magnesium silicate. A similar investigation of nuclei composition for grey iron has shown that the nucleus has a core of a complex aluminium-X-oxide where X can be Ca, Ba, Sr, Ce, Zr surrounded by the manganese sulphide.

Austenite

Graphite Austenite

Graphite

Figure 3: Eutetic cells: lamellar (top), nodular (bottom) graphite .

Figure 4: Solidification of near eutetic iron 2.

5. Prerequisites for Successful Inoculation

5.1 Number of Nuclei About 2.4wt% graphite and 97.6wt% austenite are formed during the crystal lization of eutectic (nodular) cast iron, which corresponds to approximately 8 vol% graphite and 92 vol% austenite. The mean diameter of graphite nodules is usually between 10 80 microns, although lower and higher values are possible. This leads to about 3000 to 30,000 nodules per cubic millimetre depending on the section size (cooling rate) of the casting. The total number of possible nuclei for graphite (inclusions) will be at least one order of magnitude larger than this graphite nodule density. This means that the number of inclusions or possible nuclei for graphite is at least 100,000 per cubic millimetre and that only a small fraction of these nuclei actually nucleates graphite during solidification1. Table 3 gives examples of number densities and mean particle sizes for nuclei and graphite nodules in ductile cast iron under various inocula tion conditions. As can be seen from the table, the number and mean size of nuclei particles are unaffected by the inoculant addition, although the nodule characteristics obtained after solidifi cation are strongly dependent on the type of inoculant used. These findings will be discussed below. The calculations used to generate these figures contain certain assumptions, but one can safely conclude that:  The number of nuclei per volume of melt is extremely high, and approxi mately one order of magnitude larger than the number of graphite nodules actually nucleated;  The ability of the particles to nucleate graphite is strongly affected by the inoculant addition. In order to obtain a nucleation event, a certain degree of undercooling during solidification is required. But since different nuclei phases initiate graphite nucleation at different undercooling levels, it is preferable to have a large number of nuclei particles which can initiate nucleation at very small under cooling. This is achieved by the addition of an inoculant to the melt just prior to casting.

5.2 Constituents of an inoculant Most of the inoculant material is socalled carrier material that is doped with a minor additive (nucleant), which produces nucleating particles in the iron melt. These particles will, in turn, initiate the crystallization of graph ite. The carrier (e.g. silicon and iron combined as ferrosilicon) should have the following characteristics:

provide fast and homogeneous distri - bution of the nucleant in the melt ible have a composition that is compat to the analysis of the melt form an alloy between the nucleant and the carrier be cost efficient Trials using very pure ferrosilicon as an inoculant have demonstrated that it does not have any nucleating effect for graphite1,3,4 as shown in Table 3.

The nucleant, e.g. Ca, Sr, Ba or Al only needs a limited presence and it is beneficial if the nucleant forms an alloy with the carrier. Also, the nucleant must have a limited solubility in cast iron, and form stable compounds with the other elements forming the nuclei par ticles (e.g. sulphur and oxygen). Good nucleation effect may be achieved if the ferrosilicon contains small but con trolled amounts of calcium, strontium or barium in the range of 0.6 to 2.0%.

Table 3: Example of nuclei and nodule number densities, average diameters and volume fractions1.

5.3 Composition of the Nuclei in Ductile Iron Laboratory test results are used in this section to explain the role of calcium as an example of a trace element behaving as the nucleant in ferrosilicon. Calcium will occur in ferrosilicon as a silicide (CaSi2). Calcium has virtually no solubility in iron, and reacts with com ponents in the melt to form sulphides and oxides.

In magnesium treated cast irons, the inclusions contain mainly magnesium, calcium, sulphur, silicon and oxygen. These are primary reaction products of the magnesium treatment. The inclusions are composed of a sulphide core and a faceted outer silicate shell. The sulphide core contains both MgS and CaS, while the outer shell con sists of complex magnesium silicates (e.g. MgOSiO2, 2MgOSiO2). These phases will not act as potent nucleation

sites for graphite during solidification because of a large nucleus/ graphite interfacial energy barrier. The interfacial energy barrier is the controlling factor in heterogeneous nucleation behaviour.

Figure 5: Transmission electron micrograph of duplex sulphide/oxide inclusion in ductile iron (left). Schematic representation of an inclu sion after inoculation by a calcium containing ferrosilicon. The surface layer of calcium silicate is the effective phase for graphite nucleation (right).1

After inoculation with a Ca-containing ferrosilicon, hexagonal silicate phases of the CaOSiO2 and the CaOAl2O3 2SiO2 type will form at the surface of the exis ting oxide inclusions produced during nodularisation. These silicates will act as very favourable nucleation sites for graphite during solidification, due to their hexagonal crystal structure, which matches the graphite crystal lattice very well (i.e. low energy interface). Figure 5 shows a typical inclusion in

ductile cast iron which is formed after nodularisation (left), and a schematic representation of the inclusion compo sition after inoculation (right). The sur face shell contains hexagonal calcium silicates formed during inoculant addi tion, while the bulk particle is a product of the nodularisation treatment. Hence, the inoculation does not increase the total number of nuclei particles in the melt, but rather modifies the surface of the already existing products from nod ularisation. This explains why the num

ber density of particles in uninoculated and inoculated ductile iron melts are the same (Table 3), while the resulting nodule numbers will differ greatly due to the inclusion surface modification. When inoculation is carried out with a strontium or barium containing ferro silicon inoculating hexagonal silicates equivalent to the calcium silicates (CaOSiO2 and CaOAl2 O32SiO2) will be formed (i.e. SrOSiO2, SrOAl2O3 2SiO, BaOSiO2 and BaOAl2O32SiO2)

5.4 Composition of nuclei in grey iron Recent research results have identified a three step nucleation process for generating graphite flakes in grey iron. By means of electron microscope in vestigations, it has been revealed that a nucleus for a graphite flake consists of a particle with a body of manganeseand calcium-sulphide surrounding a nucleus core of complex Al2O3XO oxides, see Figure 6. The core oxide contains elements such as calcium, barium, strontium, zirconium, and rare earth elements. Towards the surface of the manganese/calcium-sulphide body, even more complex compounds have been observed on which the graphite has grown.

The hypothesis is that the oxides form as stable elements in the iron melt first. Secondly, manganese and calcium sulphides grow on these oxides until a desired size and a more complex faceted compound appears on the sur face. The third step is that the graphite starts to grow on this faceted surface and grows along its base planes of hexagonal structure. One interesting observation was that aluminium seems to play a key role in the nucleation process in conjunction with other elements. Testing of iron with very low levels of aluminium showed poorer performance than iron with a certain level of aluminium. It can be concluded that final content of alu

minium in grey iron should be between 0.005 and 0.010% in order to maximise eutectic cell count in grey iron. This aluminium content range is and has to be less than the 0.015 0.25% Al, as this range for pin-hole susceptibility influenced by aluminium. As a result of these observations, Elkem has invented the Preseed precondi tioner that contains zirconium and aluminium, to be added to the iron melt in the furnace or well ahead of inocula tion, in order to increase the potency of the melt for inoculation

Figure 6: Transmission electron micrographs of complex sulphide/oxide inclusion in grey iron and profile of chemical composition through the nucleus.

5.5 Specification of Inoculants The chemical composition and reliability of the analysis from lot to lot is important if a ferroalloy is to be considered as a good and consistent inoculant. Many foundrymen insist on silicon and phos phorus analyses in pig iron, but pay little attention to the analysis of the inoculant, or vice versa. The preceding paragraphs indicate quite clearly that the minor constituents in ferroalloys, not the major constituents (usually sili con), are critical for the performance as inoculants. All the Elkem inoculants are alloys that have been smelted and alloyed to the quoted specifications, and with the exception of Ultraseed inoculant, no further addi tions have to be mechanically blended with the alloy. The analysis guaranteed by the specification ensures consistent inoculant properties from lot to lot. The

inoculants listed in Table 4 differ by analysis, price and application. The foundry e xperts of Elkem can give detailed i nformation on each inoculant and its individual features, and also suggestions as to the most suitable alloy for a specific foundry condition. 5.6 Addition Technique Chemical considerations alone will not ensure satisfactory results since equal attention must be paid to addition tech nique. For ladle inoculation this means a continuous addition of inoculant to the stream of iron (normally added between one third and two thirds of ladle filling) so that the high turbulence encourages fast and homogeneous distribution of the alloy. Stream inoculation may be practised, in conjunction with automatic pouring furnaces, using finer sized

grades of the above inoculants at lower addition rates. Similarly, inoculant fade can be overcome by reducing the time interval between the inoculant addition and solidification by placing the ino culant piece, or insert, into the gating system. The reaction with liquid iron occurs within the mould and this is known as in-mould inoculation. Fading is the reduction in inoculation effect with increasing time taken to pour inoculated iron. Elkem inoculants have been assessed against untreated refer ence melts and even after 10 minutes the inoculation effect of the treated melt proved to be good. Provided ladle in oculation has been carried out in a satis factory way and the ladle is not delayed for an excessive period before pouring, the need for mould inoculation can be avoided in most cases.

Table 4: Elkem preconditioner, inoculants and inserts for grey and ductile irons.

Alinoc, Barinoc, Elcast, Foundrisil,Reseed, SMZ, Superseed, Ultraseed, Vaxon and Zircinoc are registered trademarks owned by Elkem AS. Preseed is a trademark of Elkem AS.

6. Control of Inoculation
Although nuclei cannot be observed directly at solidification temperatures, they have an effect on some properties which can be measured by: recording cooling curves measuring depth of chill in chill wedges counting the number of eutectic cells counting the number of graphite nodules 6.1 Cooling Curves Cooling curves record the changes in temperature with time as a conse quence of a change of energy within the system. A deviation from normal cooling indicates the occurrence of a source of heat such as the heat of crystallization released by a precipitating phase. The location of the inversion points on the generally S-shaped cooling curve in the region of eutectic crystallization indicates the tendency of the melt to solidify grey or white. A high level of nucleation promotes a higher arrest temperature which, by avoiding the white eutectic, will result in less risk of carbide formation. Conversely, when the inversion point is at a low level on the cooling curve, there will be a tendency for cementite to precipitate instead of graphite giving a white structure. An increased cooling rate, as found in thin sections, will in crease the degree of undercooling that must be balanced by an increased number of active nuclei to avoid the formation of white iron. In the iron-carbon system there is only a 7 C interval between grey solidification and suffi cient undercooling to cause white solidification. In Figure 7 the cooling curve for an uni noculated reference melt is compared with a curve from a melt inoculated with 0.25% inoculant addition. The uninoculated melt shows inversion at 1145 C whereas inversion occurs at 1162 C for the inoculated melt. This means that the uninoculated melt is undercooled by 20 C and the inoculated melt by 3 C, which gives white and grey solidification, respectively.

Figure 7: Solidfication curves for uninoculated ductile iron (a), and inoculated ductile cast iron (b) (30 mm section size).

6.2 Chill Testing The traditional method to determine the tendency of a melt to solidify grey or white is by examining chill wedges. The larger the zone of white iron, the fewer the number of nuclei that were active in initiating a grey solidification. Figure 8 shows chill wedges from a foundry which had an average 11.2 mm of chill for a period of two week on un inoculated cupola iron. By adding 0.2%

FeSi (85% Si), the average chill depth was reduced and with 0.125% Super seed inoculant addition, the chill depth was reduced even further. 6.3 Eutectic Cell Count The number of eutectic cells in grey iron can be determined on etched micro specimens. If an effective inoculant has been added to the melt, there will be a large number of active nuclei to promote

graphite precipitation at low under cooling during solidification. This will be represented on the micro-specimen by a high cell count for grey iron and a high nodule count for ductile iron. Table 5 shows the result of cell counts after inoculation. The eutectic cell number increases as the inoculant addition to the base melt is increased. Other factors, such as over-inoculation leading to shrinkage proprensity, will in fluence the optimum inoculant addition.

Table 5: Eutectic cell count (30 mm round bars).

Figure 8: Cupola melted grey iron; no inoculation (left), inoculated with 0.2% FeSi85% (centre), and inoculated with 0.125% Superseed inoculant (right).

7. Fading of Inoculation
7.1 Principle Effects The effects of inoculation are at a maxi mum immediately after the addition of the inoculant. The rate of inoculant fading, which depends upon the composition of the inoculant and the condition of the iron to which it is added, may be very rapid and much of the inoculating effect may be lost in the first few minutes after the addition. The principal effects of fading are: to cause greater undercooling to take place during eutectic solidification and to lead to a greater tendency to chilling in grey and ductile cast irons, particularly in thin sections; to reduce the number of nodules formed in ductile iron and to cause a ient deterioration in their shape. If suffic ly severe, the deterioration in shape may affect the mechanical properties of the casting; to reduce the number of eutectic cells growing in flake graphite irons result ing in a less uniform size distribution of graphite in the casting and a reduction in mechanical properties. There are some well established facts concerning fading which are of practical significance: all inoculants fade; there is no period after inoculation during which fading does not occur. To obtain the maximum effect, metal should be cast as soon as possible after the addition of inoculant; some inoculants fade more slowly than others; inoculating effects vary according to inoculant composition. It is desirable that foundries should carry out tests to determine which is the most suit able inoculant for their purpose.

7.2 Coarsening of Inclusions It has previously been discussed that graphite nucleation occurs from nonmetallic inclusions in the melt. A signi ficant coarsening of these inclusions occurs within the time interval between inoculation and solidification of the cast iron. This coarsening of inclusions will result in a reduction in the inclusion number density, consequently reducing the graphite nucleation frequency. Hence, the fading of inoculation can be explained by this coarsening of the inclusion population with time. Due to the coarsening, the total number of possible nucleation sites for graphite during solidification is reduced. Figure 9 shows a plot of the number density of inclusions in cast iron as a function of holding time after inocu lation.

7.3 Effects of Various Inclusions Inoculants lose their ability to reduce chill and nucleate graphite if the metal is held for extended periods before casting. However, inoculants have different fading characteristics. The barium-based Barinoc inoculant produces a high initial number of nucleation sites throughout the holding period, thus making it an excellent inoculant for ladle treatments. Foundrisil inoculant is an effective chill reducer for both low and high sulphur grey iron as well as ductile iron. Another effective inoculant that maintains the inoculation effect is the strontium-containing Superseed inoculant. Figure 10 shows the fading characteristics of some inoculants in cast iron.

Figure 9: Coarsening behaviour of inclusions in liquid cast iron during holding.

Figure 10: Fading characteristics for various inoculants in cast iron.

8. Inoculation and Cast Iron Properties

8.1 Inoculation and Strength Inoculation increases the number of eutectic cells (or nodules) which leads to a finer structure of the iron, and in particular, this will cause an increase in tensile strength in hypoeutectic irons. Figure 11 shows the increase in tensile strength by adding an inoculant. 8.2 Inoculation and Machinability Inoculation increases the number of potent nuclei that will promote graphite nucleation at low undercooling. Im proved machinability is achieved by inoculation suppressing the formation of hard un-machinable white iron structures. Inoculation also reduces section sensitivity. While uninoculated irons will show a wide variation in hardness, inoculated grey or nodular cast irons will show more consistent hardness values over a wide range of sections, Figure 12.

Figure 12: The wall thickness sensi tivity of (Brinell) hardness can be reduced by an inoculant (partly calcu lated from Rockwell -B* and -C**).

Figure 11: Increasing inoculant additions improve tensile strength. The final analyses of these trial melts are identical after inoculation.

9. Inoculation and Shrinkage

The solidification of grey iron is charac terized by the formation of a skin type array of eutectic cells at the mould/metal interface, followed by the development of eutectic cells ahead of the advancing solidification front. Newly formed graphite compensates partly or fully for the liquid iron contraction, provided it precipitates within a relatively rigid skin, which is charac teristic of uninoculated grey iron. How ever, if the mode of solidification is changed, the good shrinkage character istics can be jeopardized, especially if a rigid skin cannot be developed at the mould/metal interface leaving the mould directly exposed to ferrostatic pressure. Eventually, the mould may yield under the ferrostatic pressure from the remaining liquid, and the increased volume of the mould cavity becomes too high for com pensation by graphite precipitation at the end of solidification. Some shrinkage may occur as a result of excessive dilation of the mould although mould geometry will have an influence. Unfortunately, inoculation changes the mode of solidification in such a way that the rigidity of the skin is decreased. Inoculant additions should not become excessive to avoid shrinkage and yet the addition should be adequate to ensure grey solidification. Test specimens, Figure 13, show that for an equivalent chill depth, the eutectic cell count will be lower when using Superseed inoculant in place of foundry grade ferrosilicon. The lower cell count reduces the ferro static pressure on the mould and impro ves the tendency to avoid shrinkage defects. Since the eutectic cell count for nodular cast iron is much higher than for grey iron, one would expect a greater shrinkage tendency, and it is interesting to see that the solidification pattern is in fact similar to over-inoculated grey iron. Ultraseed inoculant has proven highly successful in providing fresh nucleation sites to ductile irons of long holding time where the base iron or magnesium treated iron have been held for pro longed times before addition of the post inoculant. Such long hold times are well known to reduce the overall capabilities of the iron prior to inocula tion resulting in so-called dead iron. Ultraseed inoculant will thus reinstall good nucleation effectiveness from reactions with its sulphur and oxygen content forming new nucleation sites. Due to the powerful effects of Ultraseed inoculant on raising nodule count and improving chill protection, it has been found that the tendency to shrinkage formation is also reduced with this ino culant. Especially, the type of shrinkage that often occurs as small porosities in hot-spot sections of the complex cast ings; appear to be effec tively reduced or even eliminated by Ultraseed inocu lant. Figure 14 shows an example of microshrinkage porosity that has been minimized by the use of Ultraseed inoculant.

Figure 13: Comparison of the eutectic cell count in 5 mm sections at about equal chill depth (from BCIRA).

Figure 14: Example of micro-shrinkage prorosity in ductile iron part that has been minimized by Ultraseed inoculant (left), compared to manganese-zirconium containing inoculant (right).

10. Product Development

Based on a comprehensive under stan ding of the mechanisms of ino culation described in this brochure, Elkem has, over the years, evaluated many alterna tive alloy analyses to develop the current range of inoculants which includes the well established Superseed,Ultraseed, Reseed and Alinoc inoculants. Development of new improved alloys goes on continuously. Recently, Preseed preconditioner has been added to the portfolio as a novel preconditioner to enhance ino culation effect. For further information on Elkems xtensive range of inoculants, please e contact your local representative. The success of Elkem products worldwide justifies their elaborate development and provides a sound base for the foundryman to select the appropriate inoculant for his foundrys particular requirements.

References: 1) Skaland, T.: Ph.D Thesis, The Norwegian Inst. of Tech., 1992 2) Engler, S.: Giesserei, techn.-wiss.Beih., 17(1965), p 169/202 3) Moore, A.: Brit.Foundrym. 68 (1974) March, p59/69 Patterson, V.H; Foundry 100 (1972) June, p 68/71 4) Riposan et al: Investigation of the Effect of Residual Aluminium on Solidification Characteristics of Un-inoculated Ca/Sr-Inoculated Gray Irons. AFS 2004

Elkem AS Foundry Products Hoffsveien 65B P.O. Box 5211 Majorstuen N-0303, Oslo, Norway Telephone : +47 22 45 01 00 Telefax : +47 22 45 01 52 www.foundry.elkem.com

Revised April 2012 Copyright Elkem AS