Malleable iron is a type of cast iron that has most of its carbon in the form of irregularly shaped graphite nodules instead of flakes, as in gray iron, or small graphite spherulites, as in ductile iron. This article discusses the production of malleable iron based on the metallurgical criteria: to produce solidified white iron throughout the section thickness; and to produce the desired graphite distribution (nodule count) upon annealing. It describes the induction heating and quenching or flame heating and quenching for surface hardening of fully pearlitic malleable iron. Laser and electron beam techniques also have been used for hardening selected areas on the surface of pearlitic and ferritic malleable iron castings that are free from decarburization.

This article discusses criteria that can be used for the classification of cast iron: fracture aspect, graphite shape, microstructure of the matrix, commercial designation, and mechanical properties. It addresses the main factors of influence on the structure of cast iron, including chemical composition, cooling rate, and heat treatment. The article describes some basic principles of cast iron metallurgy. It discusses the main effects of the chemical composition of ductile iron and compacted graphite (CG) iron. The composition of malleable irons must be selected in such a way as to produce a white as-cast structure and to allow for fast annealing times. Some typical compositions of malleable irons are presented in a table. The article concludes with information on special cast irons.

This article describes some examples of the different welding processes for gray, ductile, and malleable irons. These processes include fusion welding, repair welding, shielded metal arc welding, gas metal arc welding, flux cored arc welding, gas tungsten arc welding, submerged arc welding, oxyfuel welding, and braze welding. The article discusses various special techniques, such as groove-face grooving, studding, joint design modifications, and peening, for improving the strength of a weld or its fitness for service. The article describes other fusion welding methods such as electrical resistance welding and thermite welding. It reviews thermal spraying processes, such as flame spraying, arc spraying, and plasma spraying, of a cast iron.

Malleable iron, like ductile iron, possesses considerable ductility and toughness because of its combination of nodular graphite and low-carbon metallic matrix. This article discusses melting practices such as batch cold melting and duplexing, and their control mechanisms. It schematically illustrates the microstructure of annealed ferritic malleable iron, which is characterized by microstructures consisting of uniformly dispersed fine particles of free carbon in a matrix of ferrite or tempered martensite. The article describes the digital solidification analysis technology, simulation technologies, and smart engineering for the production of malleable iron. It provides information on the applications of ferritic and pearlitic malleable irons.

A wide range of mechanical properties can be obtained with a given composition of cast iron, depending on the microstructural constituents that form during solidification and subsequent solid-state processing. This article discusses the mechanical properties of gray iron and provides some general property comparisons with malleable, ductile (nodular), and compacted graphite irons. The mechanical properties of gray iron are determined by the combined effects of its chemical composition, processing technique in the foundry, and cooling rates during solidification. The article provides information on the classification of gray irons based on ASTM International specification A48/A48M. It discusses the loading effect, surface effect, notch sensitivity, and environmental effect on the mechanical properties of gray iron. The chemical composition ranges of some of the more widely used heat-resistant gray irons suitable for elevated-temperature service are presented in a table.

Malleable iron, like ductile iron, possesses considerable ductility and toughness because of its combination of nodular graphite and low-carbon metallic matrix. There are two basic types of malleable iron: blackheart and whiteheart. This article focuses on the blackheart malleable iron and discusses the chemical composition of malleable iron. A summary of mechanical properties and specifications of malleable iron castings is presented in a table. The article also reviews the mechanical properties of ferritic malleable iron and pearlitic and martensitic-pearlitic malleable irons.

This article introduces the general principles and applications of heat treatment to iron castings. It provides a detailed discussion on the heat treatment processes, namely, stress relieving, annealing, normalizing, throughhardening, and surface hardening for various types of cast irons. These include gray iron, ductile iron, compacted graphite iron, white iron, malleable iron, and high-alloy iron. The article describes how to control temperature and atmosphere during the heat treatment of the iron castings.

This article focuses on heat treatment of malleable and compacted-graphite irons to produce ferritic and pearlitic malleable irons. It describes the heat treatment cycles of malleable iron, including martempering, tempering, bainitic heat treatment, and surface hardening. The article provides information on the mechanical and physical properties of compacted-graphite irons, which are determined by the graphite shape and the pearlite/ferrite ratio.

This article reviews the production stages of iron foundry casting, with particular emphasis on the melting practices, molten metal treatment, and feeding of molten metal into sand molds. It discusses the molten metal treatments for high-silicon gray, high-nickel ductile, and malleable irons. Foundry practices are also described for compacted graphite, high-silicon ductile, and high-alloy white irons.

Malleable iron is a cast ferrous metal that is initially produced as white cast iron and is then heat treated to convert the carbon-containing phase from iron carbide to a nodular form of graphite called temper carbon. This article provides a discussion on the melting practices, heat treatment, microstructure, production technologies, mechanical properties, and applications of ferritic, pearlitic, and martensitic malleable irons.

This article, primarily focusing on atmospheric corrosion of carbon and low-alloy steels, describes the factors that must be considered by alloy casting users in material selection. It presents compositions of cast steels tested in atmospheric corrosion in a tabular form. The article graphically presents the results of a research program that compared the corrosion resistance of nine cast steels in marine and industrial atmospheres. It provides a comparison of corrosion rates of cast steels, malleable cast iron, and wrought steel after three years of exposure in two atmospheres. Conclusions drawn from these tests are also presented.

This article describes the metallographic specimen preparation procedures for cast iron test samples, including mounting, grinding, polishing, and etching. It discusses the makeup and use of black-and-white and selective color etchants and where one might be preferred over the other. The article provides information on nearly 100 micrographs, discussing the microstructure of flake graphite in gray iron, nodular graphite in ductile iron, and temper graphite in malleable iron. It also examines the matrix microstructures of gray, ductile, compacted, and malleable cast iron samples.

This article focuses on the general root causes of failure attributed to the casting process, casting material, and design with examples. The casting processes discussed include gravity die casting, pressure die casting, semisolid casting, squeeze casting, and centrifugal casting. Cast iron, gray cast iron, malleable irons, ductile iron, low-alloy steel castings, austenitic steels, corrosion-resistant castings, and cast aluminum alloys are the materials discussed. The article describes the general types of discontinuities or imperfections for traditional casting with sand molds. It presents the international classification of common casting defects in a tabular form.

Cast iron, which usually refers to an in situ composite of stable eutectic graphite in a steel matrix, includes the major classifications of gray iron, ductile iron, compacted graphite iron, malleable iron, and white iron. This article discusses melting, pouring, desulfurization, inoculation, alloying, and melt treatment of these major ferrous alloys as well as carbon and alloy steels. It explains the principles of solidification by describing the iron-carbon phase diagram, and provides a pictorial presentation of the basic microstructures and processing steps for cast irons.

Cast irons may be compared with steels in their reactions to hardening. However, because cast irons (except white iron) contain graphite and substantially higher percentages of silicon, they require higher austenitizing temperatures. This article describes the effect of heat treatment processes such as annealing, normalizing, surface hardening, tempering, stress relieving, quenching, and austempering, on hardness and tensile properties of cast irons, namely gray irons, ductile irons, malleable irons, and austenitic irons.

Cast irons primarily are iron alloys that contain more than 2% carbon and from 1 to 3% silicon. This article provides a description of iron-iron carbide-silicon system; and discusses the classification, composition, and characteristics of cast irons, such as gray, ductile, malleable, compacted graphite, and white cast iron. A table shows the correspondence between commercial and microstructural classification, as well as final processing stage in obtaining common cast irons.

Malleable iron is a type of cast iron that has most of its carbon in the form of irregularly shaped graphite nodules. This article tabulates the typical composition of malleable iron and specifications, and applications of malleable iron castings. It discusses the metallurgical control of malleable irons with emphasis on its composition and heat treatment. The article provides information on the specifications and mechanical properties of different types of malleable irons, such as ferritic, pearlitic, and martensitic malleable irons.

This article discusses the fatigue and fracture behavior of various types of cast iron, such as gray iron, ductile iron, malleable iron, compacted graphite iron, and white iron, as a function of chemical composition, matrix microstructure, and graphite morphology.

This article provides a brief review of the classification and characteristics of cast irons. It describes the processes used to clean iron castings, including mechanical cleaning and finishing and nonmechanical cleaning. The article discusses surface treatments used to extend casting life when resistance to corrosion, wear, and erosion is required. The common methods include electroplating, electroless plating, hardfacing, weld cladding, surface hardening, porcelain enameling, and organic coatings.