PART II - Papers - The Effect of Thermal History on the Yield Behavior of Iron

The initial yielding characteristics of a vacuum-melted iron have been measured as a function of thertnal history after slow cooling or quenching from a 700°C recrystallizntion anneal. A thermal history favoring the segregation of interstitials to grairz boundaries results in a material having high values of upper and lower yield stress and long, irregutar Luders' plateaus, wheueas specimens treated to minimize grain boundary segregation have significantly lower values of these yielding characteristics. The struc- ture of typical grain boundary areas as revealed by electron transmission microscopy is consistent with these findings. The grain boundaries in iron are considered to be principally responsible for the release of dislocations during macroscopic yielding and it is suggested that strong locking results when a substantial amount of grain boundary segregution is present; it follows that weak locking results from a more random distribution of interstitials to grown in dislocations. RECENT years have seen an increased emphasis placed on a more quantitative study of the influence of grain boundaries on the yield behavior of bcc metals. The earlier picturk of dislocation pileups at grain boundaries building up a sufficient stress concentration to unlock dislocations in neighboring grains1