Influence of Component Proportions in Casting Process on Hardness and the Quality of Cast Iron

The purposes of this study were to investigate the impact of proportions of cast iron scrap, steel scrap, carbon and ferro silicon on hardness and the quality of cast iron and to obtain an appropriate proportion of the four components in iron casting process using a mixture experimental design, analysis of variance and response surface methodology coupled with desirability function. Monte Carlo simulation was used to demonstrate the impacts of different proportions of the four components by varying the proportions of components within ±5% of the four components. Microstructures of the cast iron sample obtained from a company and the cast iron samples casted with the appropriate proportions of the four components were examined to see the differences of size and spacing of pearlite particle. The results showed that linear mixture components were statistically significant implying a high proportion of total variability for hardness of the cast iron samples explained by the casting mixtures of raw materials. The graphite of the sample casted from the appropriate proportion has shorter length and more uniform distribution than that from the company. When varying percentages of the four components within ±5% of the appropriate proportion, simulated hardness values were in the range of 237 to 256 HB.