Third-party austempering: heat treatments for clients

The Austempering heat treatment is a flagship service offered for more than 30 years by Zanardi Fonderie, which, since 2019, has also worked as a subcontractor on behalf of European foundries.

Our company offers the market the heat treatment of spheroidal graphite iron castings, guaranteeing the possibility to achieve all grades of austempered ductile iron (ADI) in compliance with international standards (ISO17804, EN1564 and ASTMA897/A897M). It also offers European foundries its own heat treatment to obtain isothermal ductile iron (IDI), one of our patented materials.

Austempered ductile iron (ADI) offers clients a valid alternative to steel parts, maximising value for money in numerous applications.

Thanks to the experience acquired in the in-house production of austempered ductile iron ADI, Zanardi Fonderie offers targeted support to client foundries, starting from the definition of the material’s chemical analysis, with the aim of minimising the use of alloying elements and complexity of the metallurgical process.

For 30 years we have been investing in the research and development of austempering as a technological innovation in the field of ferrous materials. We actively collaborate with important academic institutes such as WZL/RWTH Aachen University, Technische Universitat Munchen, University of Trento, University of Padua, EIT Raw Materials and participate in international committees for the material’s standardisation.

We have been performing our in-house austempering heat treatment since 2001: in 2019 we began to offer our services as a subcontractor, supporting European foundries in defining the desired product requirements and transversal optimisation of the austempering process.

Since the early 2000s we have invested both internally and in research to acquire the necessary expertise on ADI processing. Recent investments in hi-tech machinery for mechanical processing have allowed us to propose our services to other foundries in search of a partner able to process castings, and also support our clients in defining processing parameters and selecting the most suitable tools.

Thanks to the modern equipment in our metallography lab, we are also able to provide complete certification for the austempered material.

Thanks to our experience in austempering and use of the most modern software, we are able to support foundries in defining the most appropriate chemical composition for the development of new parts in spheroidal graphite iron (ADI).

Our metallography lab is equipped to provide complete certification of the austempered material. We are able to perform internal mechanical tests, micrographic analysis, hardness tests and resilience tests up to +40 °C.

We issue certificate 3.1B for material certification and use the following machinery to test the materials: