Materials Letters 58 (2004) 2335 2339

www.elsevier.com/locate/matlet

A new SPD process for spheroidal cast iron

X. Zhao, T.F. Jing *, Y.W. Gao, J.F. Zhou, W. Wang
Key Laboratory of Metastable Materials Science and Technology, Hebei, Qinhuangdao 066004, PR China
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Yanshan University, Qinhuangdao 066004, PR China
Received 28 November 2003; accepted 23 January 2004
Available online 13 March 2004

Abstract
A new severe plastic deformation (SPD) process for cast iron named cylinder covered compression (CCC) is developed by the present
authors. In CCC process, specimens are embedded in a steel cylinder and hot-compressed. Then the compressed material is cut into
pieces, machined out of surface layers, stacked, embedded in a cylinder and hot-compressed again. By CCC process, spheroidal cast iron
has been successfully hot compressed up to 99.2% reduction in height. The shape ratio of deformed graphite, b, increases as the amount
of reduction increases up to 80%, after which b changes with no relationship of the reduction. In case of 80% deformed specimens, a
lamellar structure of graphite and metal matrix forms. Further deformation leads to the decrease of the thickness of graphite and the
fragmentation of graphite.
D 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Severe plastic deformation; Graphite; Iron; Microstructure

1. Introduction
In recent years, materials processed by methods of
severe plastic deformation (SPD) have attracted the growing interest of specialists in materials science. This
interest is enhanced by unique physical and mechanical
properties of SPD materials. Therefore, some SPD processes such as equal channel angular pressing (ECAP)
[1,2], high pressure torsion (HPT) [1,3], multi-axial compression [4,5] and accumulative roll-bonding (ARB) [6,7]
have been developed. However, there were few literatures
concerning SPD of cast iron. The main reason of this lack
is the difficulty in obtaining specimens without crack. In
this paper, the present authors have developed a new
process, named cylinder covered compression (CCC), for
cast iron to realize severe plastic deformation. Up to
99.2% reduction in height has been achieved without
cracking problems. When the reduction is more than
80%, most of graphite spheroids in the core region of

* Corresponding author. Department of Materials Science and

Engineering, Yanshan University, Qinhuangdao 066004, PR China.
E-mail address: Jingtf@ysu.edu.cn (T.F. Jing).
0167-577X/$ - see front matter D 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.matlet.2004.01.034

the specimens collapsed and a lamellar structure of

graphite and metal matrix forms. The lamellar structure
is expected to have better tensile strength compared with
cast iron and better damping property compared with
steel. The microstructures of the compressed spheroidal
cast iron are characterized.

2. Experimental
The spheroidal cast iron was obtained from the China
Railway Shanhaiguan Bridge, as 22.6-mm-thick plates with
chemical compositions (mass%): 3.57C, 2.55Si, 0.22Mn,
0.021P, 0.013S and balance Fe. Fig. 1 represents the
microstructure of an as-cast specimen.
A new SPD process, named cylinder covered compression (CCC), was developed by the present authors. The
schematic illustration of the CCC process is shown in Fig. 2.
Specimens of 8 mm diameter with 20 mm in height were
machined from the cast plates. Cylinders of 8 mm inner
diameter and 10 mm outer diameter were made of low
carbon steel (GB45 steel). Specimens covered by cylinders
were hot-compressed on a Gleeble 3500 Machine. The
details of the thermomechanical treatments are listed in

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X. Zhao et al. / Materials Letters 58 (2004) 23352339

Table 1
Summary of the thermomechanical treatments

Fig. 1. The microstructure of an as-cast specimen.

Table 1. After compression, the test material is cut into

pieces, machined out of surface layers, stacked, embedded
in a cylinder and hot-compressed again. After each pass of
compression, specimens were sectioned axially and the
microstructure was characterized using optical microscope

Fig. 2. The schematic illustration of the CCC process.

Reduction
(%)

Temperature
(jC)

Compressing rate
(s 1)

30
50
65
80
94
99.2

900 F 2
900 F 2
900 F 2
900 F 2
900 F 2
900 F 2

1  10
1  10
1  10
1  10
1  10
1  10

2
2
2
2
2
2

Cooling
water
water
water
water
water
water

(OM), image analyzer and scanning electron microscope

(SEM).

3. Results and discussion

All the specimens were hot-compressed on a Gleeble
Machine without lubricant. The deformation in a specimen
is inhomogeneous. It is well known that the deformation in
the core of a hot-compressed specimen is very like that of
hot-rolled one. Therefore, the observation and analysis of
the deformed microstructure were mainly performed on the
core region of the severe strained specimens.
Fig. 3 represents SEM micrographs of hot-compressed
spheroidal cast iron with moderate reduction in height.
Fig. 3a shows that graphite is deformed plastically in the
form of lenses with 50% reduction in height. The increase
in the amount of reduction leads to elongation of graphite
in the direction perpendicular to the compressing force.
After 80% reduction (Fig. 3c), most of graphite spheroids
were collapsed. All collapsed graphite spheroids elongated
along the anvil face and changed into flat flakes. It is
clear that a parallel lamellar microstructure of the graphite
flakes and metal matrix forms at this high amount of
reduction. By further deformation, the graphite flake
density increases but the length of the flakes does not
increase. Fig. 3 also indicates that some of the graphite
flakes were fragmented during severe deformation. In
cases of 94% and 99.2% deformed specimens, five pieces
embedded in a cylinder were bonded (Fig. 3d). To
examine the bonded interface, a piece of tantalum alloy
was added between the centerpiece and the neighbor one.
The whole interface between tantalum alloy and spheroidal iron was bonded well. Fig. 4a shows the well-bonded
interface and it can be observed that part of tantalum
alloy was pressed into a collapsed graphite spheroid in
Fig. 4b.
It has been reported that all graphite spheroids are
collapsed in heavily hot-rolled spheroidal iron sheets [8].
However, some uncollapsed graphite spheroids can be
found in the 94% deformed specimens and even in the
99.2% deformed specimens in the present study. Fig. 5 is
an SEM micrograph, which clearly shows the details
around an uncollapsed graphite spheroid in a 94% deformed specimen. The graphite spheroid is prolate as

X. Zhao et al. / Materials Letters 58 (2004) 23352339

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Fig. 3. SEM micrographs of hot-compressed spheroidal iron with various reduction in height, 50% (a); 65% (b); 80% (c); 99.2% (d).

those in the moderately deformed specimens. In the

vicinity of the graphite spheroid, there are several collapsed graphite spheroids as well.
Fig. 6 shows a qualitative analysis representation of the
uncollapsed graphite spheroid in Fig. 5 by EDS. It is clear
that nearly all the constituents are of carbon, which ensures
that there is no hard inclusion in that graphite spheroid.
Therefore, the phenomenon of the uncollapsed graphite
spheroid should be explained by the difference between
rolling and CCC processes. Some investigations should be
carried out to provide further information about the uncollapsed graphite spheroids in the future (Fig. 7).
The deformation of the spherical graphite in cast iron
used to be measured by the shape ratio, b = D2/D1 [9,10],
where D1 and D2 are minor and major axes of prolate
spheroid. Fig. 8 shows the effect of the amount of
reduction in height on b, D1 and D2. The minor axes

of prolate spheroid, D1, gradually decreases as the amount

of reduction increases. On the other hand, the major axes
of prolate spheroid, D2, increases as the amount of
reduction increases up to 80%, after which D2 decreases.
The reason is that more and more graphite flakes are

Fig. 5. SEM micrograph of the details around an uncollapsed graphite

spheroid in a 94% deformed specimen.

Fig. 4. SEM micrographs of the interfaces between tantalum alloy and iron
matrix (a), and graphite (b) in spheroidal iron.

Fig. 6. Qualitative analysis of the uncollapsed graphite spheroid in Fig. 5 by

EDS.

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X. Zhao et al. / Materials Letters 58 (2004) 23352339

Fig. 9. A typical lamellar structure of graphite flakes and metal matrix in a

99.2% deformed specimen.

Fig. 7. The effect of the amount of reduction in height on b, D1 and D2.

fragmented when the amount of reduction is more than

80%. The shape ratio, b, increases with the amount of
reduction up to 80%, after which the value of b changes
with no relationship of the reduction. This suggests that
the shape ratio of prolate spheroid is not suitable to
measure the deformation of spheroid iron when the
amount of reduction is more than 80%. In that case,
most of graphite spheroids are changed into flakes, the
deformation of spheroid iron may be determined by the
decrease of the thickness of graphite flakes and the space
between the centers of graphite flakes.
With the increase of the reduction, the space between
graphite spheroids/flakes decreases. The space was measured using an image analyzer. Fig. 8 shows the effect of
reduction (%) on the space between graphite spheroids/
flakes. It is clear that the space decreases obviously when
the reduction ranges from 30% to 65%. At the same time,
the lamellar structure of graphite flakes and metal matrix
forms as well. There are two possible reasons to explain

this phenomenon. One is that the deformation of graphite

and metal matrix results in the decrease of the space.
Another one is that more and more graphite spheroids are
collapsed and can be seen on the section with the increase
of the reduction as shown in Fig. 9. Fig. 9 shows a
typical lamellar structure of graphite flakes and the
ferrous matrix in a 99.2% deformed specimen. All of
the graphite flakes are nearly parallel to each other and
most of them are fragmented. It is suggested that graphite
spheroids, as a soft inclusion in metal matrix, not only be
collapsed but also flow with the matrix during the
pressing process.

4. Conclusions
(1) By the new SPD process named cylinder covered
compression (CCC), spheroidal cast iron has been
successfully hot-compressed up to 99.2% reduction in
height.
(2) After 80% reduction in height, most of graphite
spheroids in the core of the specimens are collapsed
and a lamellar structure of graphite and metal matrix
forms. Further deformation leads to the fragmentation
of graphite.
(3) The space between the deformed graphites in the core
of the specimens decreases with the increase of the
amount of reduction.
(4) The shape ratio of graphite in the core of the specimens
increases as the amount of reduction increases.
However, it is not true when the amount of reduction
is more than 80%. The decrease of the thickness of
graphite and the space between the centers of deformed
graphite can reflect the deformation of spheroidal cast
iron at that high amount of reduction.

Acknowledgements

Fig. 8. The effect of the reduction (%) on the space between the centers of
graphite flakes.

The present study was financially supported by the

Nature Science Foundation of Hebei province under Grant
No.503291, and the National Nature Science Foundation

X. Zhao et al. / Materials Letters 58 (2004) 23352339

of P.R. China under Grant Nos. 50271061 and

No.50371074.

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