Thermal and structural studies about the solidification process of grey cast irons

The grey iron casting manufacture is an industrial process extendly used today. Therefore, the study of the solidification features obtained from this iron and the factors that have influence on such transition becomes a powerful tool in order to support the technological development of this type of material. In the present work, three inoculated alloys with different chemical compositions (hypoeutectic, eutectic and hypereutectic) have been selected so as to comparatively analyse the structural characteristics of the irons during the liquid-solid transformation. The behaviour of the samples has been controlled recording the cooling curves and then they have been quenched in order to study the structural characteristics at different stages of the solidification. The selected alloys show different solidification features as a function of the chemical composition and the corresponding nucleation potential. The obtained results have been discussed in terms of a comparative analysis, establishing a solidification model that explains the industrial behaviour of the alloys.