Effect of Silicon on the Fracture Characteristics of Austempered Ductile Iron

The effects of Si and austempering temperature on the fracture characteristics and the microstructures of austempered ductile irons were investigated. As Si content increased from 2.28% to 3.0%, the precipitation of carbides during bainitic transformation and was suppressed the amount of retained austenite increased resulting in the increase in the fracture toughness. It is believed that the high Si limited the formation of martensite in the microstructure and minimized the segregation of the other elements at cell boundaries. But in samples with too high Si content as 3.3%, the formation of islands of free ferrite in the bainitic structures was observed and the fracture toughness was measured to have degraded.