A Computational Micromechanics Approach to Evaluate Effective Properties of Ductile Cast Iron

Abstract

Ductile iron has excellent mechanical properties. The properties of SGI are mainly controlled by the type of matrix and by the size, shape, and distribution of graphite nodules. Thus, knowledge of the relation between microstructure and mechanical properties becomes important to design parts made with SGI. Micromechanical modeling of materials is a new approach recently employed to evaluate such relations while taking the topology of the constituent phases and the properties of each into account. The macroscopic mechanical behavior of a mixed ferritic/pearlitic matrix cast iron is investigated in this work by means of a micro-mechanical model, in which asymptotic homogenization is applied to computationally generated multi-particle cells in two and three dimensions. The displacement field inside the cells is computed via finite elements. From these cells, the size of the Representative Volume Element is determined, and the effective response is obtained for this element.