Production of carbide-free thin ductile iron castings

The fast cooling rate of thin ductile iron castings requires special consideration to produce carbide-free castings. Extraordinary care was taken to select the charge to produce castings of 100-mm long round bars with 16-mm diameter. The castings show the presence of carbides in the bars. Seven melts were made with different temperatures and with different compositions to get rid of carbides. After chemical analyses, it was found that the extra purity of the charge with less than 0.008wt% sulfur in the castings was the cause of carbides. To remove the carbides from the castings, sulfur should be added to the charge.