Brief Introduction About Cast Iron

CAST IRON: Cast iron has iron and carbon as there main constituent. Carbon content in cast iron varies from 2.1% to 6,67%, but for practical application purpose, the percentage of carbon in cast iron is limited to 4.2%. This is because as the percentage of carbon in a cast iron increases beyond 4.2% then its brittleness and melting point increases. Cast iron has high compressive strength than tensile strength. The cast iron is widely used in casting because of its low melting point. Due to the low melting point, the cost of melting material reduces which in turn reduces the cost of casting that is why the percentage of carbon in cast iron is limited to 4.2% for many applications as I mentioned above. One more important property of cast iron is good flowability, and due to that, accurate shapes can be produced in casting.

PROPERTIES OF CAST IRON

1) High strength and corrosion resistance

2) high brittleness

3) low machineability

4) high hardness

5) high castability

there are four types of cast iron which are categorized based on heat treatment and percentage of carbon

1) grey cast iron

2) nodular cast iron

3) white cast iron 

4) malleable cast iron