The market for ductile iron castings has continuously grown since its discovery, slight decreases or stagnation being observed during periods of low economic activity. However, the market is maturing and, in order to maintain a significant growth rate, the ductile iron industry must find new technologies that would allow it to preserve its actual markets and find new applications. In a time period when energy consumption becomes a concern for all industries, and particularly for the automotive industry, producing lighter ductile iron castings is not a choice anymore, but a necessity. This paper summarises the R&D effort carried out at Rio Tinto in order to help the foundry industry to produce light weight ductile iron castings. It will highlight how such castings can be produced in a variety of grades that cover the actual family of ductile iron products: standard ferritic-pearlitic grades, austenitic (Ni-resist) grades and austempered ductile irons.
展开▼
