Technical Information 15

Selection of Inoculants for Grey Cast Iron

An inoculant must serve several purposes in grey irons:
• to eliminate iron carbides or “chill”;
• to modify the graphite morphology to a uniform “A” type structure;
• to reduce the section sensitivity between thin and thick sections within the same
casting;
• to be effective over the length of the ladle pouring cycle.

All commercially available inoculants are based either on a ferrosilicon alloy, a blend of
graphite and ferrosilicon or a mixture of ferroalloys. Increased demand by the casting end-
users for consistency has led most foundries to abandon blends in favour of quality con-
trollable specialist ferrosilicon based alloys.

These alloys invariably contain either 45-50% silicon or 60-75% silicon, both with additions
of property enhancing elements and a balance of iron.

The most common effective added elements are:

Element Considerations
Aluminium Normally present in ferrosilicon alloys, but has little inoculating effect. High aluminium contents
Al typically found in cheap uncontrolled alloys can cause hydrogen pinhole problems in greensand
moulding systems and a maximum of 1.5% is advised. Some in-the-mould alloys have high
aluminium (>4%) and it is claimed that this is effective in this niche application.
Barium A powerful graphite promoting element which also provides good fade resistance. Up to about
Ba 3% can be used beneficially, however excess can create slag defects. Care should be taken in
certain castings containing sharp radii or where the sand is slightly soft as the high eutectic cell
number generally found with barium containing materials may cause inter-cell shrinkage.
Calcium A medium potency inoculating element, often added in conjunction with other alloyed elements.
Ca A combination of barium and calcium can be particularly effective in irons of lower sulphur con-
tent (0.03-0.05%).
Strontium The most powerful inoculants for grey irons of medium/ high sulphur level contain about 1%
Sr strontium. Both in terms of chill control, particularly in thin casting sections, and modification of
structure, strontium containing alloys are found to be very effective. Good fade resistance is
found with these alloys.
Peculiar to strontium containing ferrosilicons is the property of powerful chill reduction whilst
maintaining a much lower eutectic cell number than found with other proprietary inoculants.
Zirconium A medium potency, all-purpose element that gives good chill reduction and, in particular, will
Zr control the graphite morphology in high carbon equivalent irons. Zirconium has the added advan-
tage of controlling nitrogen in heavily cored or shell systems, creating a harmless ZrN2 inclusion.

Elkem ASA, Foundry Products © Copyright Elkem ASA

Postal address Office address Telephone Web Revision
P.O.Box 5211 Majorstuen Hoffsveien 65B +47 22 45 01 00 www.foundry.elkem.com No. 2.1
NO-0302 Oslo Oslo Telefax Org. no. 20.03.2004
Norway Norway +47 22 45 01 52 NO 911 382 008 MVA
Technical Information 15 2

Several factors have to be taken into consideration in the selection of an inoculant for grey
iron:
• the sulphur content of the base iron;
• the fade time, i.e. the total time taken from adding the inoculant to pouring the final
casting from the ladle;
• the carbon equivalent of the iron.

The carbon equivalent (CE), given in weight percent, relates the combined effects of diffe-
rent alloying elements used in the making of cast irons to an equivalent amount of carbon.
This value can be calculated using a mathematical equation, and the following formula is
commonly applied for cast iron:

%Si + %P
CE = %C +
3

Addition Methods

Consideration should also be given to the method of adding the inoculant. In-stream
methods eliminate much of the inoculant fade and reduce the addition rates encountered
with conventional ladle treatments. In these cases, attention must be given to the
inoculant particle size, a 0.2 – 0.7 mm grading being suited to most in-stream applications.

For ladle inoculation, a 0.5 – 2 mm grade is deal for small ladles, up to 250 kgs capacity
and 2 – 6 mm material should be used for ladles above this. Inoculants containing exces-
sive fines should be avoided as these contain higher levels of oxides and create dust
during addition.

Elkem is happy to provide further information to help in the correct selection of inoculants
and inoculating practises.