Investigation on the Thermal Crack Evolution and Oxidation Effect of Compacted Graphite Iron Under Thermal Shock

For a better understanding of the thermal fatigue behavior in compacted graphite cast iron (CGI), the cyclic thermal shock test is carried out through alternating induction heating and water quenching. The optical and scanning electron microscopy observations are used to examine the cracks and oxidation behavior on the cross section and heating surface of the material specimen, respectively. The results show that the thermal cracks in CGI initiate at the graphite phases mostly, and the multi-sourced thermal cracks would result in stable cracks morphology finally through crack shielding effect. In the oxidation analysis, it is found that the oxidation of graphite is selective, and the graphite is the potential channels for oxygen diffusion from the outside into the matrix, resulting in local oxidation of matrix around graphite and continuous oxygen diffusion paths in the microstructure. Thermal cracks nucleate from the oxidation holes at graphite caused by decarburization, and they prefer to propagate and coalesce by penetrating the oxide bridges.