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50 YEARS OF DUCTILE IRON, QIT (NOW RIT) AND TECHNICAL SERVICES

by James D. Mullins, Sorelmetal Technical Services

CONGRATULATIONS FOR 50

YEARS

THE RIT PLACE TO BE

This is a memorable year for most of us in the iron th foundry industry. This year represents the 50 anniversary of the discovery of Ductile Iron and also the founding of QIT Fer et Titane Inc. the predecessor of Rio Tinto Iron & Titanium. Both Ductile Iron and Rio Tinto Iron & Titanium have been successful in the casting marketplace, because of a joint relationship that was developed to promote the industry and to the ultimate customer a low cost, high quality casting.

The worldwide Ductile Iron market will grow to approximately 16 million tons of castings by the end of this year. This number includes all forms of Ductile Iron both engineered castings and pressure pipe. Ductile Iron has grown at the expense of other, mostly ferrous, materials such as gray iron castings, malleable iron castings, steel castings and forgings, and welded or stamped and assembled steel fabrications. The reasons for this tremendous growth are the reliable and excellent properties obtainable, at very reasonable costs, compared to these other materials. This market will have some fluctuation but overall is expected to grow at an annual rate of about 4 % for many years. This is more than any other ferrous material, many of which have had negative growth for many years.
THE RIT MATERIAL

FIGURE 1.

World's largest Ductile Iron casting produced to date: crosshead for pipe press. Net casting weight 230 tons. Length: 14m, height : 2m and width : 2.5m (courtesy of Siempelkamp Guss, Germany). This casting contains 80 tons of Sorelmetal in order to obtain the excellent properties required in the heaviest sections.

The use and growth of Sorelmetal has been because it is a natural fit making Ductile Iron. Its high carbon content and low levels of trace elements make it the perfect charge ingredient to produce high quality Ductile Iron (and even some gray iron) castings. Sorelmetal is sold in over 50 countries around the globe. It is almost always used in the largest and highest quality castings. In fact the worlds biggest Ductile Iron casting, weighing more than 230 tons and containing more than 80 tons of Sorelmetal, was produced earlier this year. See Figure 1.

THE RIT PHILOSOPHY CUSTOMER SERVICE

Rio Tinto Iron & Titanium (RIT) has not only provided the best charge material to produce Ductile Iron castings, but has also provided the industry with highly qualified metallurgists that provide free technical service for our customers. The value and importance of this technical service is appreciated not only by Ductile Iron foundries, but also by casting buyers who use our technical publications and telephone/fax assistance to help in the design and purchasing of high quality Ductile Iron castings. RIT is justifiably proud of the significant part that its technical staff and research department have played in upgrading Ductile Iron production techniques and marketing of castings. We feel that the growth of this 16 million ton market is in no small part, due to the determined and responsible approach that RIT has demonstrated in many ways, to the Ductile Iron casting industry. As an example to the industry, our research and technical service group have given and published over one hundred papers and books during the last 20 years, almost all relating to Ductile Iron production and quality improvement. Additionally we have done more than 500 investigations and furnished reports to our customers around the world, in order to solve casting

defect problems. The range of defective castings investigated can be seen in the pie graph - Figure 2. It is interesting to note that the largest category of defects (graphite shape) is related primarily to magnesium / rare earth treatment and fading. The second largest category (porosity) can in part be also related to treatment and over treatment. Much of this porosity comes from having high magnesium levels that promote shrinkage defects and magnesium rich slag that can contribute to the formation of carbon monoxide gas porosity. The sources of these casting defects are shown in Figure 3. Chemistry control is the major source of defects and this lack of control often produces many of the problems shown in the Figure 2, as mentioned above. In short rarely do we ever find any exotic defects or causes, which is good news to those foundries, who control their processes carefully. In summary we are very proud of our past contributions to the industry and are looking forward to promoting quality Ductile Iron production, using Sorelmetal. We will also continue to promote the expanded use of Ductile Iron castings through our contribution and participation in the Ductile Iron Marketing Group (DIMG). If you havent seen our website take a look at www.ductile.org/DIMG.

FIGURE 2.

Casting Defects.

FIGURE 3.

Sources of Casting Defects.

REV March 2006