austempering

austempered ductile iron (adi)

ADI provides a high strength-to-weight material at a component price that is typically 20% less than that of steel.

Austempered Ductile Iron (ADI) is a specialty heat treated material that takes advantage of the near-net shape technology and low cost manufacturability of ductile iron castings to make a high strength, low cost, excellent abrasion-resistant material. 5 grades of ADI are available to address property combinations of high strength, abrasion resistance and toughness for converting from costly forgings, weldments and assemblies. ADI components are very competitive with steel forgings, castings, weldments, and aluminum forgings and castings. Austempered Ductile Iron (ADI) has found successful applications across many industries, including Construction and Mining, Agriculture, Automotive, Heavy Truck, and Railroad.

Typical applications include:

timing gears
cv joints
steering knuckles
sprockets, rollers, idlers
suspension housings and brackets
wear plates
wheel hubs
control arms
plow points
hitches
crankshafts
flanged shafts

austempered steel

The application of the austempering process to steel provides the user with a tough, high-strength component that resists embrittlement.

This dimensionally repeatable process is typically cost competitive with conventional quench and temper processes. Austempering is particularly appropriate for medium and high carbon stampings, forgings, castings, and full density powdered metal parts. Austempered Steel offers superior toughness at high hardnesses over conventionally quenched and tempered steel. This process exhibits minimal distortion, no cracking during quenching and resistance to hydrogen embrittlement. Austempered Steel (including high-density Austempered Powdered Metals) is superior to conventionally processed steels. Typical examples of Austempered Steel applications are:

mower blades
clips and clamps
cutter and mixer blades
transmission gears
wave plates
turf aeration tines

austempered gray iron (agi)

Need to make stronger and quieter gray iron components? AGI is a material that offers dramatically increased strength, excellent sound dampening and improved wear resistance. Typical applications of AGI include:

brake components
cylinder liners
bearing collars
light duty gears
machine parts

carbidic austempered ductile iron (cadi™)

CADI™ is a new treatment that uses a matrix of ausferrite and carbides to add strength and wear resistance to ductile iron parts.

The result is a premium, engineered iron with longer life, and more wear-resistant than Grade 5 ADI. Carbidic Austempered Ductile Iron (CADI™) is produced by austempering ductile iron that has a controlled volume of carbides present for an even greater abrasion resistant material. The resulting microstructure consists of carbides within an ADI matrix (ausferrite). The amount of carbide in CADI™ is dependent upon the desired abrasion resistance with typical ranges of 10-30% carbide present. The properties of the ADI matrix surrounding the carbide are determined by the selection of the heat treatment parameters. CADI™ is utilized where abrasion (wear) resistance is of primary concern. It is more wear resistant than Grade 1600 (GR 5) ADI, less expensive and tougher than many abrasion resistant irons and can replace Mn steel at an equal or lower cost. Typical applications for CADI™ will be off-highway vehicles, agricultural equipment, construction and mining, general industrial, material handling, and ground engaging components.

carbo-austempered™ steel

This process develops a tough, high-carbon, bainitic case on high performance components.

Carbo-Austempered™ parts have remarkable impact properties that are superior to either neutral hardened or carburized steels. The Carbo-Austempering™ process is a high performance steel heat treatment that combines a high carbon bainitic case with either a bainitic or tempered martensitic core to produce a component with an exceptional combination of strength and toughness. Carbo-Austempering™ is routinely applied to steel gears, shafts, and power transmission parts that undergo periodic overloading in service. Carbo-Austempered™ steel exhibits: