The use of ductile iron for wheel loader bucket tips

This paper reports results obtained in research conducted to evaluate the u se of wheel loader bucket tips produced in ductile iron and austempered duc tile iron (ADI), that has been processed at intermediate and low austemperi ng temperatures. Actual service performance trials were carried out, which were correlated with ASTM G65 wear tests data and microstructural character ization. The results obtained confirmed that ADI had excellent abrasion res istance for the intended operating conditions. ASTM G65 laboratory tests we re carried out in order to evaluate the materials in a different tribosyste m. Under laboratory wear conditions, the reference material showed higher w ear resistance than ADI. The presence of a metastable and ductile ausferrit e phase (reacted and unreacted austenite + ferrite) in the ADI microstructu re appears to be an important influence on the observed performance. X-ray diffraction analysis, show that a small fraction of austenite transforms in to martensite due to strains imposed in service. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.