Ductile iron was patented in the year 1943, patent being given to the three; Keith Mills, Alber Gagnebin and Norman Piling who were given the patent to make ductile iron by the use of magnesium to strengthen cast iron. There followed such a rise in the popularity of the use of ductile iron of ductile iron in the years 1950s and 60s and this was majorly as a result of the many useful attributes that the material had more so for commercial applications.
In as much as ductile iron is a type of cast iron, it differs from the ordinary in the fact that it has such properties that make it a lot more resistant to wear and fatigue. This is as a result of the round graphite structures that are cast into the metal. It is in fact that these particular attributes there are in the ductile iron thanks to the spherical bits of graphite added into it, that we see the material being so useful when it comes to workability, for it ends up being such a material that will be able to withstand higher impact and pressure and as well being good enough to allow for elongation as well. There are other names with which ductile iron actually goes with and these are such as spheroidal graphite cast iron or nodular cast iron.
Regular cast iron shouldn’t be mistaken for ductile cast iron even though it contains bits of graphite. The bits of graphite there is in regular cast iron appear as squiggly lines, known as flakes, and not spherical as in the ductile iron.
Ductile iron is made up of iron, which is the major component forming up to 94{26d28cabc9b729fd1037b555462a72a61d3202ba35dcf7755dc441d9f2428190} of the whole, and the remaining is a combination of the different materials such as carbon, silicon, manganese, phosphorous and magnesium. To boost its resistance to corrosion, nickel and chromium may be introduced to the composition and as well to boost its strength there may be added to it copper.
From the above, what we see is the fact that the use of ductile iron in a number of the commercial applications is as a result of the fact of its added strength as compared to what comes with cast iron, it sheer ductility and strength being superior to the other. In fact looking at the tensile strengths of the two kinds of irons, ductile cast iron offers a tensile strength that is double the one offered by the cast iron. Thanks to the superior ductility of the ductile cast iron, items made of ductile iron will be such that you will be able to hammer on as many times as you can without cracking, breaking or chipping which is unlike what we see in those made of cast iron. As a result of this, ductile iron would be so good for such applications that would see the end product be used under intense pressure.