Fatigue Properties Of Nodular Cast Irons Alloyed By Si, Mo And Cu

In recent years, the research of nodular cast iron has been focused on increasing fatigue resistence. In the paper, two types of alloyed nodular cast irons have been investigated – SiMo-nodular cast iron alloyed by 4% of silicon and 1% of molybdenum and SiCu-nodular cast iron alloyed by 4% of silicon and 1.5% of copper. SiMo-nodular cast iron is suitable for high-temperature applications, for example the exhaust manifolds of the combustion engines. SiCu-nodular cast iron is used in various components of tribotechnical units. These components are often loaded by fatigue. The mechanical and fatigue behaviour of both nodular cast iron types has been studied by means of tensile test, impact bending test, hardness test and fatigue tests. Fatigue tests were realised at low frequency cyclic push-pull loading up to 10 million cycles. The relationship between the amplitude of stress and number of cycles to failure was investigated and the fatigue strength was determined. Mechanical and fatigue properties of both nodular cast iron types are correlated with the microstructure of specimens.