The purpose of this master thesis is to assess primary austenite morphology in an industrially produced cast component in compacted graphite iron. Two locations in the cylinder block are of interest to establish microstructural relation to the acquired mechanical properties. This has been done to understand the significance of austenitic dendrite's role in materials strength.

The investigation included analysis of constituent phases – graphite, ferrite, pearlite content through image analysis and measured hardness and tensile strength. Optical microscopy was used to acquire microstructural features and the image analysis was carried out by the software Olympus stream motion. Micro-hardness of the pearlite phase by Vickers hardness was measured in accordance to [ISO 6507-1:2005]. The macro hardness (Brinell hardness) and uniaxial tensile strength measurements were provided by the company, and were done in accordance to [ISO 6506-1:2014HBW 2.5/187.5] and [SS-EN ISO 6892-1:2009] respectively.

A possible relation between primary austenitic dendrite morphology and ultimate tensile stress is prevalent. Implementation of the novel parameter to quantify dendrite morphology was done; Hydraulic diameter of the Inter-dendritic phase (DIPHyd) and Geometric modulus of dendrites (Mpd). The difficulty in quantifying secondary population in the cast is emphasised.