Influence of austenitising temperature on the formation of strain induced martensite in austempered ductile iron

The present work was taken up to study the influence of austenitising temperature on the formation of strain-induced martensite in austempered ductile iron. Ductile iron containing 1.5 wt.% nickel, 0.3 wt.% molybdenum and 0.5 wt.% copper was subjected to austempering treatments which consisted of three austenitising temperatures, namely 850, 900 and 950 °C, and three austempering temperatures, namely 300, 350 and 400 °C. Tensile tests were carried out under all the heat-treatment conditions and strain-hardening behaviour was studied by applying Hollomon equation. Microstructures were studied by optical microscopy and X-ray diffraction. It was found that increasing austenitising temperature increased the tendency for the formation of strain-induced martensite at all the austempering temperatures.