Abstract

GLADYRA, Peroza; EISTEN, Figuera; NORBERTO, Rizzo  and  QUINTERO SAYAGO, Omar. Diseño de Programa Computacional para evaluar la Solidificacion de Hierro Nodular Comercial. Rev. LatinAm. Met. Mat. [online]. 2005, vol.25, n.1-2, pp.15-22. ISSN 0255-6952.

Experimental data from thermal analysis are analyzed using a computer program called “ps3” written in Matlab 6.0. This program evaluate the possible generation of metastable eutectic microstructure (ledeburite) during the solidification of nodular cast iron. The results are given by the program in two different types of plots: one of them contains the smoothed cooling curve as well as the first and second derivative curves. The second plot displays superimpossed Fe-C-Si eutectic isotherms and the experimental cooling curves where the final solidification temperature is emphasized. Silicon effects on the two eutectic temperatures range are extrapolated for each chemical composition of the solidified liquid. Extrapolations are carried out as follows: the eutectic solidification temperatures range are obtained by processing point lectures from literature. MS Excel table is used to produce both linear extrapolation for the stable eutectic temperature and polynomical extrapolation for the metastable eutectic temperature. The possibility to produce metastable solidification is directly obtained from the superimpossed plots. This evidence is corroborated by the use of microstructure evaluation. Its application, for practical use at the industry in the manufacture of high quality cast iron, is immediately and at very low cost. This is because after monitoring the correspondent cooling test, new chemical combinations of carbon and silicon in the liquid are reached by iteration of those new data until metastable microstructure is not possible to be produced into the casting.

Keywords : Solidification; nodular iron; thermal analysis; modelling.