RESUMO O ferro nodular austemperado (ADI) é indicado para aplicações que demandam alta resistência ao desgaste abrasivo. Uma de suas variações é o CADI (Carbidic Austempered Ductile Iron), que contém em sua microestrutura carbonetos eutéticos livres. A adição de nióbio em ferro nodular também resulta em formação de carbonetos, porém mais duros e estáveis do que os carbonetos presentes em CADI. Macroadições de nióbio em ADI mostram-se promissoras. O presente trabalho estudou a influência da adição de nióbio no tratamento de austêmpera. Cinco composições distintas, ferro nodular sem adições, ferro nodular com cromo e ferro nodular com três adições de nióbio, foram austemperadas a duas temperaturas e cinco tempos distintos. Os valores de teor de austenita retida foram estimados por metalografia. A adição de nióbio provocou a formação de carbonetos primários poligonais, ao passo que a adição de cromo provocou a formação de carbonetos de padrão dendrítico encontrados nas regiões intercelulares. Verificou-se que as adições de nióbio e, mais intensamente a de cromo, aumentam o teor de austenita retida resultante do tratamento de austêmpera, bem como alteram a morfologia da microestrutura ausferrítica.

ABSTRACT The austempered ductile iron (ADI) finds applications in abrasive wear resistant parts. CADI (Carbidic Austempered Ductile Iron) is one type of ADI, which contains free eutectic carbides in its microstructure. The addition of niobium in ductile iron also results in the formation of carbides, but harder and more stable than the CADI carbides. Macro additions of niobium are promising. The present work studied the influence of the addition of niobium in the austempering treatment. Five different compositions, ductile iron, ductile iron with chromium and ductile iron with three niobium additions, were austempered at two temperatures for five different times. The retained austenite were estimated by metallography. The addition of niobium caused the formation of primary polygonal carbides while the addition of chromium caused the formation of carbides of dendritic morphology in intercellular regions. The results shows that the additions of niobium and, more intensively, of chromium result in the increasing of the retained austenite content. The additions also affect the morphology of the ausferritic microstructure.

Microstructural characterization is an important tool to optimize the properties of engineering materials. Metallography is a common technique, but it provides two-dimensional images from (sometimes complex) three-dimensional microstructures. Three-dimensional reconstruction of microstructures provides more precise informa tion on the morphologies of the material microconstituents, providing more accurate control over their physical and mechanical properties. The main barrier for the dis semination of this technique is the extensive time dispended to obtain a record of in numerous metallographic polished planes and the 3D image reconstruction procedure. The present work shows a practical example of three-dimensional reconstruction of the graphite phase in a compacted graphite cast iron executed by "manual" technique and using optical microscopy.

A commercial ductile iron alloy was submitted to a quenching and partitioning heat treatment. Samples were austenitized at 900 ºC for two hours, quenched at 160 ºC and kept at this temperature for 2 minutes and finally were re-heated at temperatures between 300 and 450 ºC during time intervals between 2 and 180 minutes. The microstructural evaluation was performed with SEM and X-ray diffraction and the mechanical properties were measured using tensile strength and Charpy tests. In general, the quenching and partitioning treatment is viable to achieving expressive fractions of retained austenite in ductile cast irons. Generally, higher partitioning temperatures produce a higher fraction of retained austenite after shorter times. This behavior can be explained by the increase on diffusion rate of carbon at higher temperatures. For all tested conditions it was possible to see a well-defined process window and the combination of mechanical properties is very similar to the austempered ductile irons.

Grey cast iron (GCI) is the most common material used in diesel engine blocks. However, to increase the pressures in the combustion chamber when this kind of alloy is used, it is necessary to increase the block wall thickness, what raises its weight and, consequently, does not fulfill the requirements. Thus, the compacted graphite iron (CGI) appears as an alternative for such application. It has characteristics of heat conductivity and damping similar to the GCI, but with superior mechanical properties, making possible the manufacturing of lighter engines with better performance. However, the use of CGI presents as disadvantage its worse machinability, when compared with GCI, stimulating development of machining techniques and cutting tool materials. The goal of this work is to analyze the performance of two tool materials (carbide and ceramic Si3N4) in the finishing milling of the fire face of the engine block made of CGI. To reach this goal these two materials were compared in terms of wear mechanisms and tool life in different cutting speeds. The main conclusion was that, for conditions similar to those used in this work, carbide is better than ceramic in terms of tool life in the milling CGI.

Due to its good mechanical properties, the Compacted (Vermicular) graphite cast iron (CGI) has found a lot of applications in the automobilistic field. One of the applications is the production of high power diesel engine blocks that, due to the higher strength compared to the usual gray cast iron, allows the increase of the pressure inside the cylinder and, consequently, production of high level of energy. The result is the better fuel burning what decreases the fuel consumption and the pollutants' emission levels. However, when CGI replaces gray cast iron, the machining processes used to produce the components are more difficult, with lower tool lives and higher power consumption. Moreover, because usually the raw material to produce cast products of CGI is selected from scrap, some residual level of titanium is present. Thus, the goal of this work is to study the influence of the titanium content (in residual levels) in the turning operation performance with carbide tools, using two cutting speeds. The results show that the alloys with the highest titanium content generated the shortest tool life, but the titanium content influenced neither power consumption nor workpiece surface roughness. Attrition/adhesion was the main tool wear mechanisms verified in this work.