Brittle fracture in austenitic steel

Journal Article · Fri Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 1994 · Acta Metallurgica et Materialia; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/0956-7151(94)90300-X· OSTI ID:7029349

Muellner, P; Solenthaler, C; Uggowitzer, P J; Speidel, M O ^[1]

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1. Swiss Federal Inst. of Technology, Zuerich (Switzerland). Inst. of Metallurgy

The fracture mode of austenitic steel may feature a ductile to brittle transition (DBT), depending on alloy composition and temperature. The DBT variation can be explained in terms of the actual deformation structure evolving during cold work and the correlated internal stresses. The crucial features of microstructure causing brittle fracture are found to be the intersections of deformation twins and the total density of free dislocations. To avoid brittle fracture, the stresses of intersecting twins must be screened by dislocations. Manganese and nitrogens promote brittle fracture since they lower the stacking fault energy and thus shift the onset of twinning to low strain levels where the total dislocation density is low. Nickel additions oppose this trend. The results of the microstructural fracture model agree well with experimental results and the model is confirmed by continuum-mechanical considerations.

• OSTI ID: 7029349
• Journal Information: Acta Metallurgica et Materialia; (United States), Journal Name: Acta Metallurgica et Materialia; (United States) Vol. 42:7; ISSN 0956-7151; ISSN AMATEB
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
360103* -- Metals & Alloys-- Mechanical Properties
ALLOYS
AUSTENITIC STEELS
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
CRACK PROPAGATION
DATA
DUCTILE-BRITTLE TRANSITIONS
EVALUATION
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
FRACTURE PROPERTIES
INFORMATION
IRON ALLOYS
IRON BASE ALLOYS
MECHANICAL PROPERTIES
NUMERICAL DATA
STEELS
THEORETICAL DATA
TWINNING