New possibilities of shaping the surface properties in austempered ductile iron castings

The paper presents recent developments concerning the formation of surface layer in austempered ductile iron castings. It was found that the traditional methods used to change the properties of the surface layer, i.e. the effect of protective atmosphere during austenitising or shot peening, are not fully satisfactory to meet the demands of commercial applications. Therefore, new ways to shape the surface layer and the surface properties of austempered ductile iron castings are searched for, to mention only detonation spraying, carbonitriding, CVD methods, etc.