Tensile Fracture Behaviour of Prismatic Notched Specimens of Cold Drawn Pearlitic Steel: A Macro- and Micro-Approach

This paper focuses on the study of the tensile fracture behaviour of prismatic notched specimens of cold drawn pearlitic steel, providing a <i>macro</i>- and <i>micro</i>-approach. Two types of notched samples with very different notch radius (<i>sharp</i> and <i>blunt</i> notches, PAA and PCC) and the same notch depth were studied, thereby allowing a study of the fracture behaviour under different levels of <i>stress triaxiality</i> (constraint) in the experimental specimen. The studied samples are machined from pearlitic steel wires taken from a real cold drawing chain, analysing the entire drawing process, from the initial base material (<i>hot rolled bar</i>; not cold drawn at all) to the final commercial product (<i>prestressing steel wires</i>; heavily cold drawn), including two intermediate stages in the manufacture chain. The aforesaid specimens were subjected to tensile fracture tests and analysed at macroscopic and microscopical level using the scanning electron microscope (SEM), thereby obtaining micrographs of the different areas appearing in the specimens under study and assembling full micro-fracture maps (MFMs) of the fractured area. The aim of the research is to analyse the macro- and microscopic changes produced by the variation in stress triaxiality state (constraint), along with the different fracture processes. The first relevant finding is the increase in fracture path deflection for higher drawing degrees, and for greater triaxiality levels associated with sharp notches. Another finding is the variation in area of the different fracture zones, i.e., outer crown (OC), fracture process zone (FPZ) and intermediate zone (Z_INT), which are characterised by their specific micro-mechanisms, micro-void coalescence (MVC), cleavage (C) and special (<i>large</i>) micro-void coalescence (MVC*). The higher the stress triaxiality level, the larger the area occupied by the Z_INT in the fracture process. The fracture behaviour tends to unify along with the degree of drawing, with less dependence on the state of triaxiality imposed on heavily drawn wires. Results have been obtained in which the increase in triaxiality, imposed by the smaller radius of curvature of the notch (<i>sharp notch</i>), as well as the greater degree of drawing of the wires, cause the fracture process to place the FPZ at the notch tip. It is demonstrated that the variation in stress triaxiality and the drawing degree can generate different locations of the fracture initiation zone (FPZ).