U.S.-Finland Cooperative Research: New Techniques for Ensuring Sound Spheroidal Graphite Iron Castings with BetterYield

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This award will enable Professors John T. Berry and Doru M. Stefanescu, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, to collaborate with Mr. Arno Louvo and Mr. Asko Renkonen, Technical Research Center of Finland in Espoo. Associated with these researchers on a subcontract are Professors Prateen V. Desai and James G. Hartley, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta. The research will examine new techniques for ensuring sound spheroidal graphite iron castings with better yields. The aim of the research is to characterize the ways modular iron alloys solidify and undergo shrinkage. The researchers hope to eliminate cast unsoundness problems and to improve efficiency and quality in modular castings manufacture. Data will be collected in the U.S. and Finland on the interactions of fluid flow, heat transfer, and microstructural evolution of the materials as they affect shrinkage behavior. A computer simulation model of casting solidification will be tested and refined, using the data. The research will require the specialized expertise of the cooperating scientists in computer-aided design, thermal analysis, and experimental techniques in nucleation and growth studies on iron-based alloys. The research is an extension of the collaborative work already done by the Finnish and American researchers.