Influence of warm working and tempering on fissure formation

Abstract

The influence of warm working and tempering on the formation of fissures on the fractured faces of Charpy V-notch samples has been examined for a variety of ferrite–pearlite steels and iron alloys which had been rolled in the temperature range 600–400°C and tempered in the range 600–725°C. In accordance with fissures being initiated by the ease of intergranular failure along the ferrite grain boundaries, the number of deep fissures produced on warm working increased with the degree of grain boundary alignment in the rolling direction and the grain aspect ratio (maximum grain diameter/minimum grain diameter). Pearlite banding and the presence of grain boundary carbides were found not to influence the number of fissures formed, fissuring behaviour being the same for the Fe–Mn alloys and plain C–Mn steels. The presence of low levels of S and P also did not influence fissure formation. At a given average grain aspect ratio it was found that the introduction of a two phase rolling sequence (760–720°C) into the rolling schedule encouraged fissure formation. This is probably due to a small number of elongated grains not recrystallising during the two phase rolling sequence and being further elongated at the lower rolling temperatures, combined with a greater alignment of the ferrite boundaries in the rolling direction. By rolling the steels and Fe alloys with the same reduction at temperatures insufficient to allow recrystallisation (600–400°C), it has been possible to keep the aspect ratio constant and vary the dislocation density. At constant aspect ratio, increasing the dislocation density by warm working increased the number of deep fissures formed. On the basis of these results, it is suggested that the weakness at the grain boundaries which gives rise to these fissures may be caused by dislocation interaction with the boundary together with boundary alignment giving a well defined crack path. Subsequent tempering at 600°C which allowed some recovery to take place without grain boundary movement did not reduce the number of fissures. Fissuring was only removed when the tempering temperature was high enough to allow grain boundary movement.MST/769