Parameters of load-displacement curves and their correlation with the fracture surface in medium-carbon steel

Impact tests are mandatory for a wide range of structural steel products to evaluate the required service life and operational safety. This test is especially relevant for products used in operation in climatic areas with a cold climate, since it allows one to determine the temperature range of the ductile-brittle transition. Depending on the structural-phase state of a metal, the type of the temperature relationship of impact toughness and its displacement on the temperature axis may differ significantly. For ductile materials, the temperature range of the ductile-brittle transition is shifted towards ultra-low negative temperatures whereas for materials in the embrittled condition it lies in the region of higher temperatures. Ductile-brittle transition behavior of medium-carbon steel with 0.32% C-1.35% Mn-0.003% B in two conditions (after normalization and after quenching and tempering) by instrumented impact testing and fracture analysis was studied. On the descending branch of the force-displacement curves the periods corresponding to different zones of propagation of the main crack are distinguished: period I is the ductile zone of pure shear, period II is the zone of brittle fracture, period III is the ductile zone of break fracture. Each period can be quantitatively described by a set of strength, plastic and gradient parameters. It is established that the displacement to the beginning of linear period II (SIIb ) and slope of the curve on it (ΔF/ΔS)II have a better correlation with shear fracture zone percentage (B) than the other distinguished parameters of force-displacement curves. © 2021, Institute for Metals Superplasticity Problems of Russian Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.