The influence of the manganese and copper on the structure and mechanical properties of ductile cast iron

The structure of ductile cast iron is formed from graphite and basic metal matrix, which is composed from pearlite, ferrite and alternatively their mixture and other structural components (steadite, inclusion). The cast iron with ferrite matrix is characterized by quite high plasticity, toughness, and good workability whereas the tension strength is lower. The ferrite structure is reached by means of very low content of manganese, phosphorous and perhaps even higher contents of silicon. Higher strength is typical for cast iron with pearlite matrix. Higher additives of manganese and especially cooper promote the formation of pearlite. Alloying by cooper is suitable because ledeburite cannot be formed, as this is possibility for alloying by manganese. The contribution is concerned with the influence of manganese and copper on the structure and mechanical properties of ductile cast iron. The casting wedge blocks with graded content of manganese and copper were used for studying of effect of alloying elements. These castings were used for the metallographic evaluation and determination of the basic mechanical properties. On the base of experiments the correlation among basic mechanical characteristics and structure of DCI (ductile cast iron) matrix in the dependence on the content of manganese and copper was found. The all obtained information can be utilized for optimalization of chemical compounds with regard to requirement properties and for production of ADI alloys.