Property enhancement of cast iron used for nuclear casks

Ductile iron (DI) is a preferred material for use in various structural, automotive, and engineering fields because of its excellent combination of strength, toughness, and ductility. In the current investigation, we elucidate the relationship between the morphological and mechanical properties of DI intended for use in safety applications in the nuclear industry. DI specimens with various alloying elements were subjected to annealing and austempering heat treatment processes. A faster cooling rate appeared to increase the nodule count in austempered specimens, compensating for their nodularity value and subsequently decreasing their ductility and impact strength. The ductility and impact energy values of annealed specimens increased with increasing ferrite area fraction and nodularity, whereas an increase in the amounts of Ni and Cr resulted in an increase of hardness via solid solution strengthening. Austempered specimens were observed to be stronger than annealed specimens and failed in a somewhat brittle manner characterized by a river pattern, whereas the ductile failure mode was characterized by the presence of dimples.