The effect of inoculant amount and casting temperature on metal expansion penetration in grey cast iron

The composition of the inoculant, containing different elements, as well as inoculant amount have been shown to play an important role in solidification of cast iron. Three different inoculant amounts and different pouring temperatures were used on a commercial casting. From the results of the ocular inspection of the castings, the eutectic cell size and distribution measurements, it can be concluded that nucleation of the eutectic cells plays an important role in formation of the expansion penetration. The castings show two different types of surface defects; namely, bulb and metal expansion penetration. The mechanisms of bulb and formation metal expansion penetration seems to be related. The influence of the melt casting temperatures showed the following results; by using a lower temperature the degree of metal penetration was reduced but the bulb formation is unchanged. This is applies to experiments using 0.15 % and 0.30 % inoculant. The amount of inoculant added shows a clear effect on the degree of metal penetration. The expansion penetration disappeared at 0.05 % addition at the two highest pouring temperatures although at the lowest temperature some penetration did occur. The low temperature did not show any tendency to form white solidification in this casting components. The pouring temperature seems to have a large influence in combination with high additions of inoculants. A low pouring temperature seems to increase the formation of bulbs caused by excess material at solidification. 2 The mechanism of bulb formation is proposed to depend on formation of a thin solidified layer when the metal has filled the mould. The shell is thin, and a later expansion of the metal, during solidification pushes the shell outward and forms a bulb, instead of bursting and metal penetration of the sand mould