INFLUÊNCIA DOS PARÂMETROS DE AUSTÊMPERA EM FERRO FUNDIDO NODULAR: MICROESTRUTURA, PROPRIEDADES MECÂNICAS E ASPECTOS DA GEOMETRIA FRACTAL NA FRATURA

Abstract

The mechanics of the fracture were developed using a geometric Euclidean description that assumes a smooth crack without irregularities. For this reason, the mathematical modeling of a rough crack, using fractal geometry, has been the concern of several authors in the last decades. The aim of these researchers is to describe the fracture phenomenon more authentically and accurately. One of the ways to evaluate the mechanical properties of a fractured material is by using the concept of integral-J. This concept applied to the fracture phenomenon defines a crack growth resistance curve called the J-R curve. Thus, several fractal J-R curve models have been proposed. One of the models that have gained prominence in the scientific literature was proposed by ALVES (2010, 2011). For this reason we investigated the application of this model in the study of nodular cast iron and austempered nodular cast iron (ADI). The objective was to evaluate the effects of thermal treatments of austempering in the microstructure and mechanical properties of a ductile cast iron alloy. Two routes of thermal treatments were used: conventional austenitic, consisting of austenitization at 900ºC for 60min, followed by tempering up to 250ºC and at 300ºC, with permanence for 60min and 120min for each temperature, totaling four conditions, with air cooling. The thermally treated samples were characterized by optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (FEG) and X - ray diffraction (XRD), in order to determine their phases and microconstituents. The effect of the treatment conditions on the mechanical properties was verified by tests of Vickers hardness and instrumented impact Charpy. By means of instrumented impact and mechanical tensile stress tests and with the aid of field emission electron microscopy (FEG), it was possible to study the growth of rough cracks in austempered nodular cast iron fracture, comparing the results between the four conditions of heat treatment. Thus, it was possible to provide experimental data to prove the validity of the J-R curve equation in the presence of a rough crack proposed by ALVES (2010, 2011) based on fractal geometry and fracture mechanics. The results obtained allowed to compare and discuss the effect of heat treatment routes in order to develop the mechanical properties of nodular cast iron for different applications. The D J curves fitting by the fractal model show in agreement with the curves obtained by the method described in the ASTM E1820-17a (2017). The ADI treated at 300ºC for 60 minutes was the material that presented the best conditions of tensile and impact mechanical strength, surpassing the crude casting material in the fracture toughness, calculated by the fractal parameters of the curve. This austempered nodular cast iron is compared to that of the ADI high strength class.