In marginal applications, a higher class of iron may sometimes be used if the casting is cooled slowly Cin effect,

increasing the section thickness) by judicious placement of flow-offs and risers. An example is the successful production
of a 25 mm C1 in.) diam single-throw crankshaft for an air compressor. This shaft was hard at the extreme ends when
poured in class 50 iron. The difficulty was corrected by flowing metal through each end into flow-off risers that
adequately balanced the cooling rate at the ends with the cooling rate at the center.

In sum, the selection of a suitable grade of gray iron for a specific casting necessarily requires an evaluation of the size
and shape of the casting as related to its cooling rate, or volumelarea ratio. For a majority of parts, this evaluation need be
no more than a determination of whether or not the VIA ratio of the casting exceeds the minimum VIA ratio indicated for
the grade considered.



Reference cited in this section

4. R.A. Flinn and R.W. Kraft, Improved Test Bars for Standard and Ductile Grades of Cast Iron, Trans. AFS,
Vol 58, 1950, p 153-167
Test Bar Properties

Mechanical property values obtained from test bars are sometimes the only available guides to the mechanical properties
of the metal in production castings. When test bars and castings are poured from metal of the same chemical history,
correlations can be drawn between the thermal history of the casting and that of the test bar. The strength of the test bar
gives a relative strength of the casting, corrected for the cooling rate of the various section thickness. Through careful
analysis of the critical sections of a casting, accurate predictions of mechanical behavior can be achieved.

Usual Tests. Tension and transverse tests on bars that are cast specifically for such tests are the most common methods
used for evaluating the strength of gray iron.

Yield strength, elongation, and reduction of area are seldom determined for gray iron in standard tension tests. The
transverse test measures strength in bending and has the additional advantage that a deflection value may be obtained
readily. Minimum specification values are given in Table 5. Data can usually be obtained faster from the transverse test
than from the tension test because machining of the specimen is unnecessary. The surface condition of the bar will affect
the transverse test but not the tension test made on a machined specimen. Conversely, the presence of coarse graphite in
the center of the bar, which can occur in an iron that is very section sensitive, will affect the tension test but not the