Cast iron offers the design engineer a low-cost, high-strength material that can be easily cast into a wide variety of useful, and sometimes complex, shapes. This handbook from ASM covers the entire spectrum of one of the most widely used and versatile of all metals.
You'll find basic information on metallurgy, solidification characteristics, and properties. Extensive reviews are presented on the low-alloy gray, ductile, compacted graphite, and malleable irons. New and expanded material has been added covering high-alloy white irons used for abrasion resistance, and high-alloy graphitic irons for heat and corrosion resistance.
Also discussed are melting furnaces and foundry practices such as melting, inoculation, alloying, pouring, gating and risering, and molding. Heat treating practices including stress relieving, annealing, normalizing, hardening and tempering, austempering (of ductile irons), and surface-hardening are covered, too. You'll have valuable information on secondary processing like welding, brazing, machining and grinding, and surface engineering. The latest developments in cutting tool materials for difficult-to-machine castings and innovative laser surface treatments are also examined.
You'll learn about routine nondestructive testing to ensure the necessary casting quality, along with failure analysis and metallography. Finally, thorough information and data are presented on physical, fatigue and fracture, and elevated-temperature properties.
