90 years of thermal analysis as a control tool in the melting of cast iron

Since its first literature mention in conjunction with cast iron in 1931 by Esser and Lautenbusch, thermal analysis (TA) has journeyed a long way. Today it is an accepted and widely used tool for process control for all types of cast irons. This paper reviews the latest progress in the development of equipment and analysis methods that make TA successful in applications such as the estimation of chemical composition, graphitization potential, and the shape and number of graphite aggregates. The potential and limitations of the prediction of shrinkage defects propensity are analyzed in some details. Examples of attempts at prediction of mechanical properties and shrinkage propensity are also discussed. Several graphs showing the data scattering are presented to convey the reader a better sense of the accuracy of various predictions.