Aus Tempered Ductile Iron

ADI was discovered almost 50 years ago and found successful commercial application in 1972.
Today ADI has become the material of choice for the designer, as it offers the best design
combinations of low cost, design flexibility, machinability, high strength to weight ratio, good
toughness, wear resistance & fatigue strength. ADI is more environment friendly than many
competing materials.
The original inventors called the process Incomplete Austempering as the resultant
microstructure contained large quantities of RETAINED AUSTENITE [RA]. Incomplete
austempered ductile iron exhibited high elongation values as compared to normalized, hardened
or fully bainitic ductile irons for similar tensile strength levels.
ADI exhibits transformation induced plasticity [TRIP]. Hence it has superior wear resistance as
compared to irons & steels of equivalent hardness values. Due to TRIP, ADI also has higher
toughness & fatigue strength as compared to
normalized / toughened ductile iron, nearing
those of steel at times, especially for the lower tensile grades.
The paper discusses the parameters required to be maintained for successful ADI.
ADI is used in diverse components operating under extreme engineering conditions. ADI is used
for manufacturing crankshafts, camshafts, gears, sprockets, wear parts in earthmovers, breaker
body, suspension/chassis members etc. With the above mentioned advantages many more
components are in the development / change over phase to be converted to ADI. Many
organizations are studying the benefits of ADI so as to reduce weight & cost of their finished
products. ADI offers a great opportunity for value addition & cost reduction to the engineering
industry. ADI has very wide spread applications and will definitely be a major growth area in the
days to come.
Rahul Gupta
ND Gupta Enterprises.
S 38, MIDC, Bhosari, Pune. 411026.
Tel.: 91-020-27120398, 91-020-27123850.
Email. ndgenterprises@gmail.com