Nodular Cast Iron GGG40, 60, 70 Mechanical Characterization from Bars and Blocks Obtained from Brazilian Foundry

Nodular cast iron has been commonly applied in industry and many engineering applications due to its low production cost and the similarity of its mechanical properties to carbon steel. The mechanical properties of nodular cast iron are very dependent on its microstructure and also on the characteristics of the graphite nodules. In this sense, the main objective of this paper was to evaluate and characterize the nodular cast iron grades GGG40, GGG60 and GGG70 in the absence of heat treatment. In addition, specimens were obtained from casted bars and blocks without the Y-block casting process. The microstructure was analyzed by optical microscopy with the support of computational image analysis for determination of the attributes of the graphite nodules and the quantification of each phase present in the microstructure of the nodular cast iron. The results showed that the microstructure has a strong effect on the material’s strength, especially the density of graphite nodules in the material. This difference reinforces the idea that cast iron can undergo mechanical changes due to changes in the casting process, confirming the importance of checking the characteristics of the cast batch before engineering applications of the material.