The inspection of shrinkage cavities formed inside spheroidal graphite cast iron during the manufacturing process of spheroidal graphite cast products, including large cast structures and machine parts, is considered to be important for quality assurance of cast products. X-ray and ultrasonic methods are generally used for this inspection. However, the former inspection method takes a long time and considerable equipment costs, the latter method requires the use of water as a contact couplant and to polish the surface of the inspection site of the cast iron. In an actual manufacturing factory, there is a demand for a simple and quick method for inspecting shrinkage cavities inside cast iron. In this research, as a simple and high-speed inspection method to evaluate shrinkage cavities inside cast iron by measuring of the vibration of the electromagnetic force is proposed. Three-dimensional electromagnetic field analysis using the finite element method and displacement analysis was performed to analyze the phenomenon, and the usefulness of this method was confirmed by verification experiments.

  Improvement in the erosion resistance of permanent molds to aluminum alloy melt is required. Since chemically and mechanically stable layer containing aluminum oxides can be formed on the cast irons by aluminum addition and heat treatment, the layer would improve the erosion resistance of the cast iron in the running melt. In this study, cast irons with different aluminum contents were fabricated, then they were heat-treated to form the oxide layer on the surface. The optimum heat treatment conditions to form the stable layer and the erosion behavior of the cast irons were clarified. Heat treatment in air was found to result in the formation of a layer that consists of oxides, such as Fe₂O₃, Fe₃O₄ and Al₂O₃ on the cast irons. Based on the castability of the cast irons and morphology of the layer, it was concluded that the addition of 3% aluminum in the cast iron and heat treatment at 1173 K for 10 hours was the most suitable treatment. The heat treatment drastically improved the erosion resistance of the cast iron. The addition of magnesium to the melt temporarily decreased the time to erosion, but increased the time to erosion again when more than 0.75% magnesium.