Grants and Contributions:

Grant or Award spanning more than one fiscal year (2017-2018 to 2018-2019).

Wabi Iron and Steel Corp. specialize in the design and development cast iron parts. Magnesium (Mg) is used as a spheroidizer inx000D
the casting process. The amount of Mg in the melt determines the nodularity of the cast iron, which in turn determines thex000D
mechanical properties of the casting. The present process involves the addition of Mg to the molten steel in ladle, far upstream inx000D
the process. The challenge with this technique is that the Mg volatilizes from the ladle within a short period of time, thus, leading tox000D
lower nodularity from the beginning of the pour to the end hence, inferior mechanical properties of the casting. The current processx000D
of measuring the nodularity is through metallographic analysis by taking a sample from the ladle.x000D
The proposed solution to this problem is to change the casting process in order to add Mg to the steel at the time that it is pouredx000D
into the individual molds. A preliminary literature review has identified research that show the feasibility of a non-destructive testx000D
method that would provide faster results for determining nodularity of cast iron through the measurement of the acoustic speed ofx000D
sound using ultrasonic sound waves. However, there is no data readily available for the type of casting alloy being used by Wabix000D
Iron and Steel. This project proposes to use the pure research that has been done to develop a specific test method andx000D
experimental data that correlates the nondestructive measurements with actual metallographic condition of the material.