Stress/strain behaviour and fatigue limit of grey cast iron

Grey cast iron is traditionally only characterised by its tensile strength. Other mechanical characteristics are determined by the grade of cast iron and the estimated tensile strength of the castings by empirical relationships. However, published data on the stress–strain behaviour and the properties are limited. In the course of this work, a large number of different material conditions are examined by their tensile properties. High resolution stress–strain measurements were performed to obtain the influence of different microstructures and mechanical properties. The amount of graphite, the flake size, the eutectic cell size and the matrix strength were investigated with respect to the obtained tensile strength and fatigue limit, measured with a high frequency resonance fatigue testing machine.