The use of modern casting materials allows the achievement of higher product quality indices. The conducted experimental studies of new materials allow obtaining alloys with high performance properties while maintaining low production costs. Studies have shown that in certain areas of applications, the expensive to manufacture austempered ductile iron (ADI) can be replaced with ausferritic ductile iron or bainitic nodular cast iron with carbides, obtained without the heat treatment of castings. The dissemination of experimental results is possible through the use of information technologies and building applications that automatically compare the properties of materials, as the machine learning tools in comparative analysis of the properties of materials, in particular ADI and nodular cast iron with carbides.

Intelligent computing tools such as artificial neural network and fuzzy logic are used as predictive modeling tools. The use of these methods, combined with model experimental results, may be an excellent predictive tool, allowing us to forecast the microstructure of the tested cast iron at the level of computer simulation. In this study, the reference training cases collected in one database were used to determine the parameters of the neuro-fuzzy ANFIS model. They mainly include the results of observations and measurements of the content of individual microstructural constituents of the compacted graphite iron, examined as a function of the content of individual alloy additives (molybdenum, nickel and copper introduced in various proportions). The training process of such a fuzzy inference system is done by constantly changing its parameters (parameters of the membership function) and determining new rule conclusions as a result of presenting individual case examples from the training sample. The conducted research has shown the possibility of applying the ANFIS model as a tool to control the chemical composition of compacted graphite iron in the production of castings with high-strength parameters.

The aim of the work is to investigate the effectiveness of selected classification algorithms and their extensions in assessing microstructure of castings. Experiments were carried out in which the prepared algorithms and machine learning methods were tested in various conditions and configurations, as well as for various input data, which are photos of castings (photos of the microstructure) or information about the material (e.g., type, composition). As shown by the literature review, there are few scientific papers on this subject (i.e., in the use of machine learning to assess the quality of the microstructure and the obtained strength properties of cast iron). The effectiveness of machine learning algorithms in assessing the quality of castings will be tested using the most universal methods. Results obtained by classic machine learning methods and by neural networks will be compared with each other, taking into account aspects such as interpretability of results, ease of model implementation, algorithm simplicity, and learning time.

The application of data mining techniques in the design of modern foundry materials allows achieving higher product quality indicators. Designing of a new product always requires thorough knowledge of the effect of alloying elements on the microstructure and hence also on the properties of the examined material. The conducted experimental studies allow for a qualitative assessment of the indicated relationships, but it is the use of intelligent computational techniques that enables building an approximation model of the microstructure and, owing to this, make predictions with high precision. The developed model of prediction supports the technology-related decisions as early as at the stage of casting design and is considered the first step in selecting the type of material used.

The effect of austempering parameters on impact energy of non-alloyed cast iron with nodular graphite was examined. The analysis involved the austenitizing temperature in the range of 830-950 °C for the time of 60 min and the austempering temperature in the range of 300-400 °C for the time of 8, 16, 32 and 64 min. The value of the impact energy KV was determined. It has been found that the austenitizing temperature and austempering conditions affect the impact energy of ADI. The conducted analytical studies helped to develop a method for the selection of heat treatment parameters to obtain the ausferritic ductile iron with appropriate impact energy KV. The applied machine learning methods included support vector machine, decision trees, artificial neural networks and the method of variational component analysis.