Comparing the possibilities of austenite content determination in austempered ductile iron

The article presents various methods for assessment of the austenite volume fraction in Austempered Ductile Iron (ADI). Tests were carried out on two types of ADI, i.e. unalloyed and alloyed with the addition of 0.72%Cu and 0.27%Mo, heat treated under different conditions of isothermal transformation to obtain different austenite volume fractions. The test material was then subjected to metallographic examinations, X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, an analysis using the author's genuine programme of artificial neural networks, image analysis and magnetic measurements. The results were compared with each other indicating the possibility of a quantitative measurement of austenite and other phases present in cast iron. It was found that different methods of measurement are not fully consistent with each other but show similar results of the austenite content.