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.

Alloy cast irons are casting alloys based on the Fe-C-Si system that contain one or more alloying elements added to enhance one or more useful properties. This article discusses the composition of different types of alloy cast iron, including white cast irons, corrosion-resistant cast irons, heat-resistant cast irons, and abrasion-resistant cast irons. It provides information on the effect of the alloying element on their high-temperature properties. The article also discusses the microstructure and mechanical properties of alloy cast irons.

This article is an atlas of fractographs that helps in understanding the causes and mechanisms of fracture of pearlitic malleable and ferritic malleable white irons, and in identifying and interpreting the morphology of fracture surfaces. The fractographs illustrate the fracture sequence, localized plastic deformation, and microcrack initiation and propagation of these 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 iron.

This article presents a discussion on the melting, pouring, and shakeout practices; composition control; molds, patterns, and casting design; heat treatment; and applications of different classes of nickel-chromium white irons and high-chromium white irons.

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.

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 iron exhibits a considerable amount of eutectic in the solid state. This article discusses the structure of liquid iron-carbon alloys to understand the mechanism of the solidification of cast iron. It illustrates nucleation of the austenite-flake graphite eutectic, austenite-spheroidal graphite eutectic, and austenite-iron carbide eutectic. The article provides a discussion on primary austenite and primary graphite. Depending on the carbon equivalent, the primary phase in cast iron can be either austenite for hypoeutectic cast iron or graphite for hypereutectic cast iron. The article also describes the growth of eutectic in cast iron in terms of isothermal solidification, directional solidification, and multidirectional solidification.

The properties of copper alloys occur in unique combinations found in no other alloy system. This article focuses on the major and minor alloying additions and their impact on the properties of copper. It describes major alloying additions, such as zinc, tin, lead, aluminum, silicon, nickel, beryllium, chromium, and iron. The article discusses minor alloying additions, including antimony, bismuth, selenium, manganese, and phosphorus. Copper alloys can be cast by many processes, including sand casting, permanent mold casting, precision casting, high-pressure die casting, and low-pressure die casting. The article provides information on the types of copper castings and tabulates the nominal chemical composition and mechanical properties of several cast alloys.

This article discusses the five basic matrix structures in cast irons: ferrite, pearlite, bainite, martensite, and austenite. The alloying elements, used to enhance the corrosion resistance of cast irons, including silicon, nickel, chromium, copper, molybdenum, vanadium, and titanium, are reviewed. The article provides information on classes of the cast irons based on corrosion resistance. It describes the various forms of corrosion in cast irons, including graphitic corrosion, fretting corrosion, pitting and crevice corrosion, intergranular attack, erosion-corrosion, microbiologically induced corrosion, and stress-corrosion cracking. The cast irons suitable for the common corrosive environments are also discussed. The article reviews the coatings used on cast irons to enhance corrosion resistance, such as metallic, organic, conversion, and enamel coatings. It explains the basic parameters to be considered before selecting the cast irons for corrosion services.

The term cast iron designates a group of materials that contain more than one constituent in their microstructure due to excess carbon that result in unique characteristics such as the fracture appearance and graphite morphology. This article discusses the classification of cast iron and the various metallurgical aspects, such as composition, alloying element, solidification, and graphite morphologies, of different types of cast iron. It describes the physical properties for various cast irons and the influence of microstructure and chemical composition on each property. The article provides a detailed account on thermal properties, conductive properties, magnetic properties, and acoustic properties of cast iron. It also discusses heat treatment, namely, stress relieving, annealing, normalizing, through hardening, and surface hardening. The article presents a discussion on the welding, machining and grinding, and coating of the types of cast iron.

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.

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.

This article begins with an overview of classes and applications of gray iron. It discusses the castability of gray iron in terms of section sensitivity and fluidity. The article provides information on the dimensions of prevailing sections recommended for gray irons and reviews the properties and specifications of test bar. It discusses the properties of gray iron, such as fatigue limit, pressure tightness, impact resistance, machinability, and dimensional stability, at both room and elevated temperature. Wear behavior of gray iron castings during sliding contact under conditions of normal lubrication is also discussed. The article reviews the use of alloys and heat treatment to modify as-cast properties. It concludes with information on physical properties of gray iron castings.

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 begins with a description of the classes and grades of ductile iron. It discusses the factors affecting the mechanical properties of ductile iron. The article reviews the hardness properties, tensile properties, shear and torsional properties, compressive properties, fatigue properties, fracture toughness, and physical properties of ductile iron and compares them with other cast irons to aid the designer in materials selection. It concludes with information on austempered ductile iron.

This article is a pictorial representation of commonly observed microstructures in iron-base alloys (carbon and alloy steels, cast irons, tool steels, and stainless steels) that occur as a result of variations in chemical analysis and processing. It reviews a wide range of common and complex mixtures of constituents (single or combination of two phases) that are encountered in iron-base alloys and the complex structure that is observed in these microstructures. The single-phase constituents discussed in the article include austenite, ferrite, delta ferrite, cementite, various alloy carbides, graphite, martensite, and a variety of intermetallic phases, nitrides, and nonmetallic inclusions. The article further describes the two-phase constituents including, tempered martensite, pearlite, and bainite and nonmetallic inclusions in steel that consist of two or more phases.

This article provides information on the classification, microstructure, castability and section sensitivity of gray iron. It describes properties of the test bar and provides a short note on fatigue limit in reversed bending. Although the ASTM size B test bar is the bar most commonly used for all gray irons from classes 20 to 60, ASTM A 48 provides a series of bar sizes, and the user can select the bar sizes that best approximates the cooling rate in the critical section of the casting.

Casting is one of the most economical and efficient methods for producing metal parts. In terms of scale, it is well suited for everything from low-volume, prototype production runs to filling global orders for millions of parts. Casting also affords great flexibility in terms of design, readily accommodating a wide range of shapes, dimensional requirements, and configuration complexities. This article traces the history of metal casting from its beginnings to the current state, creating a timeline marked by discoveries, advancements, and influential events. It also lists some of the major markets where castings are used.

This article illustrates the basic components of dry and wet hearth reverberatory furnace. It discusses stack melters that are used for aluminum metal casting, as they are efficient in sealing the furnace and using the flue gases to preheat the charge materials. The article describes the various factors for improving and maintaining furnace efficiencies. It explains the benefits of circulating molten metal in reverberatory furnaces and circulation methods.