Ukrainian Scientists’ Contribution to Technological Development: Cast Iron Crankshaft Production before the 1960s

Authors
Dmytro Zhurylo, Andrew Larin, Volodymyr Levchenko and Oleh Zhurylo

Journal
ICON, Volume 30, Issue 2 (2025)

DOI
https://doi.org/10.11590/icon.2025.2.06

Abstract
The article presents the chronological timeline of the implementation of ductile cast iron in the production of steam engine crankshafts for riverboats and internal combustion engines before the 1960s, pointing out reasons behind the substitution of forged steel crankshafts with those cast from ductile iron with nodular graphite.

The authors describe various challenges associated with the lack of calculation methods for crankshaft design; it is shown that this was exactly what delayed the adoption of this promising new material in engine building. Drawing from archival sources, it was found that the employees of the Institute of Structural Mechanics in Kyiv under its director, Academician Serhii Volodymyrovich Serensen, made a significant contribution to the development of methods for calculating crankshafts in the Soviet Union.

In 1949, a new structural material was introduced in machine building. The implementation of ductile cast iron with nodular graphite in machine building brought about significant economic benefits: reduced machining demands, increased metal utilisation rate, decreased labour intensity, lowered waste, and reduced capital costs.

Owing to its ability to dampen impacts, crankshafts made from ductile cast iron with nodular graphite could maintain operational stability even in conditions of lubrication failure and significant heating of the working parts. Unlike steel crankshafts, the use of cast iron with nodular graphite guaranteed the normal operation of riverboat engines under the most unfavourable conditions.

The article explores fascinating lesser-known and forgotten facts about metallurgy, particularly in the manufacturing of products made from ductile cast iron with nodular graphite, which form an integral and important part of the history of metallurgy and machine building in the twentieth century.

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