The comparative corrosion resistance of Ductile Iron, Gray Iron, and Steel

Ductile iron is a high carbon, cast ferrous material with a composition that is generally similar to gray iron. There is a little difference in the chemically analyses of ductile iron and gray iron. Ductile iron and gray iron, both contain a similar amount of carbon, which affects the machineability and the corrosion resistance of both materials. In gray cast iron, most of the carbon is present in the form of continuous network of flake graphite platelets, which are dispersed throughout the metal matrix. In gray iron this matrix is the major factor controlling its mechanical properties and is responsible for its relative weakness and lack of ductility. On the other hand, in ductile iron, an additional procedure during the casting process causes the graphite to ball-up in the form of spheroids or nodules. When properly processed cast ductile iron essentially consists of a near single-phase ferritic material with only minor discontinuities due to the presence of the graphitic spheroids. In consequence, the mechanical strength and ductility of the material is much close to that of steel. Ductile iron therefore is a material that offers the low-cost foundry manufacturing characteristics of a gray iron but with the mechanical properties similar to a steel. On the basis, there is little a difference between the chemical analyses of ductile and gray cast irons that the corrosion resistance of the two materials also would be similar. However, there is disagreement as to whether or not ductile iron should have better corrosion resistance than has gray cast iron because of the spheroidal morphology of the graphite nodules. LaQue considered earlier that the interconnected and overlapping flakes of graphite in gray iron (as opposed to the well-dispersed and separate graphite nodules found in ductile iron) could tend to promote a greater depth of penetration of corrosion along the margins of the graphite flakes.(2) This was supported by Fuller based on his analysis of data from ductile pipe that had been exposed in field installations.(3) It was suggested that ductile iron would be less susceptible to deep localized pitting than was gray iron because its spheroidal graphite structure might encourage a given amount of corrosion attack to spread out over the surface of the metal. Ferguson and Nicholas reported from their tests on adjacent ductile and gray iron mains that the durability of ductile iron pipe was better than that of gray iron pipe due to lesser pitting rate, greater strength, and greater ductility.(14) And they concluded that these three factors more than compensated for the reduced wall thickness of the ductile iron material. An alternative view expressed by Cox and others is that the flake graphite matrix of the gray cast irons was a highly effective diffusion barrier that served to impede both the access of aggressive species to the corrosion interface of the ferrite phase, and to retain the corrosion products within its matrix, thereby stifling the subsequent corrosion activity.(13) Experience in British water distribution systems revealed that in old cast iron water mains which had been laid in the latter part of the last century and the early part of the present century, graphitization could result in a substantial reduction in residual pipe wall thickness over large areas of piping without loss of product containment. It was considered that the presence of the graphite matrix has extended considerably the service life of the pipeline, compared to the service life uncoated steel or ductile iron pipes exposed in the same environment.

Other research concluded that the corrosion behavior and corrosion resistance of ductile and gray cast irons would have no significant differences.(1, 4-10) Some studies indicated that ductile iron might indeed corrode faster than gray cast iron.(10-13) When corrosion of ductile iron occurs, the graphite that is present will be left is an integral part of the corrosion by-products, which may serve as a preferential cathode, thereby promoting the corrosion mechanism. By contrast, in addition to their protective value, the flake graphitecontaining corrosion products have considerable mechanical strength, which is believed to contribute to the long service life of some unprotected gray cast iron pipelines in corrosive environments. The strength and adhesion of the flake graphite-containing corrosion products of gray cast iron are believed to be greater than is obtained in the case of corrosion products formed by ductile iron, due to the microstructural and minor composition difference between the two materials.(10,12) The iron corrosion products on gray iron are tightly bound together as well as to the pipe metal substrate by the residual flake graphite structure and the remaining eutectic network. The eutectic network in the case of phosphorus-rich gray iron is made of the more corrosion resistant phosphide eutectic. In the case of ductile iron, the graphite is in the form of discrete nodules, which are readily detached. There is negligible phosphide eutectic present in ductile iron due to the lower levels of phosphorus necessary to achieve the essential spheroidal graphite structure during the casting process. Consequently, neither of these features that confer strength to gray iron corrosion products could be present in the case of ductile iron.(10,12) LaQue reported from tests on specimens buried in an abnormally corrosive environment of clay soil at two beaches in Europe that ductile iron resisted attack to about the same extent as gray cast iron.(2) The compositions and microstructures of ductile and gray iron differ significantly to those of carbon steel, which is commonly used for steel pipes. Steel has a much lower carbon content and all of the carbon is present in a combined form and usually exists as pearlite, whereas in the cast irons a large portion of the carbon exists as graphite flakes or spheroids. The ferrite phase of steel is subject to the same corrosion processes as is ductile iron or gray iron, except that graphitization does not occur. Therefore, if the graphite containing corrosion products of ductile iron or gray iron can act as a diffusion barrier, as discussed above, the steel will be less corrosion resistant than because no similar diffusion barrier is formed. On the other hand, if the graphite containing corrosion products remain permeable to the further penetration of corrosive liquids, the attack on the underlying iron will not only continue but may even proceed at a rate accelerated by the galvanic effect of the graphite-containing corrosion products, which act as an enlarged cathode to supplement the other cathodes within the structure of the underlying iron.(2) It is understandable that corrosion behavior in any given case will depend upon the balance between the pipe material, the service environment, and the various effects of the corrosion products. Hence, it is not possible to make any generalized statements as to the relative corrosion resistance of steel and cast irons. In particular, it is difficult to substantiate claims, as made by Horn, that steel has less inherent corrosion resistance than has ductile iron in buried pipeline applications, when the claimed beneficial effects of the graphite corrosion products of ductile iron are under question as above.(15) However, it is generally agreed that the cast irons are greatly superior to carbon steel and copper steel in their resistance to atmospheric corrosion.(2) It is clear that there are many different mechanisms and parameters, as will be discussed later, involved in the corrosion and failure of buried piping materials. This degree of complexity accounts for the controversy surrounding the claimed corrosion performance of ductile iron. However, the main failure mode of ductile iron pipe is not uniform corrosion or graphitization, but pitting attack. The arguments based on protection by graphite containing corrosion products are irrelevant. More research would be necessary before the claimed merits of ductile iron corrosion resistance could be justified.

From the practical point of view, results of research already completed have, at a minimum, indicated beyond doubt that gray cast or ductile iron does not possess superior corrosion resistance to other materials. While reviewing the results of two extensive comparative corrosion tests on different ferrous materials conducted by the U.S. National Bureau of Standards (NBS) (16) and by a British research sub-committee of the Institute of Civil Engineers in collaborating with the Corrosion Committee of the British Iron and Steel Research Association, Ulick R. Evans wrote: The most conspicuous results of both tests is that - Whilst the rate of penetration varies greatly from one soil to another - there is little difference between the behavior of one ferrous material and another, unless expensive stainless steels are used. Small amounts of chromium, copper or nickel produce no marked effect on corrosion rates. Steel and cast iron seem to corrode at about the same rate; if the thickness were the same, the steel would probably outlive the iron.(17) William A. Pennington, a scientist at the Bureau of Reclamation of the U.S. Department of the Interior who worked with steel, gray cast-iron, and ductile iron pipe, also reviewed the tests of NBS and of the Bureau of Reclamation. He concluded of the three pipe materials, steel and gray and ductile cast irons, steel is the best for a given thickness where buried bare in soil, although gray cast-iron in larger commercial sizes is the only one not requiring an external coating for a service life of 50 years. Ductile cast iron, made according to manufacturers schedule, has about the same service life as steel in severely corrosive soil, even though its pitting rate is greater than either steel or gray cast iron. He also concluded that ductile iron "should have an exterior coating for 50 years life" based on a 12% allowance in pipe thickness, and that if the 12% allowance had not been made for ductile iron, the necessity for coating would appear to be all the stronger". (18) It's important to noted that, the wall thickness of ductile iron pipe is as much as 50% thinner than gray cast iron pipe for equivalent nominal diameter and is typically only slightly thicker than or equal to the thickness of steel pipe that would be used for similar service.(9) These factors imply that ductile iron pipe should be protected from external corrosion at the same level as would be the case for pipes made of materials such as steel.