Micromechanical characterization of ferritic ductile cast iron by using instrumented indentation and atomic force microscopy

The aim of this investigation is to characterize the mechanical properties at the microstructural level in ferritic ductile iron. The analysis involves microstructural characterization, nanoindentation testing, atomic force microscopy analysis, and the application of an inverse algorithms proposed in the literature.

The results show that, because of microsegregation, different regions of a single-phase ferritic matrix have different elastic-plastic behavior. The methodology developed in this work becomes useful to evaluate the mechanical properties along the metallic matrix of other ductile iron microstructures.