Part XI – November 1969 - Papers - Some Observations on the Relationship Between the Effects of Pressure Upon the Fracture Mechanisms and the Ductility of Fe-C Materials

It has been known for a considerable period of time that the ductility of even quite brittle materials can be enhanced if they are deformed under a superposed hydrostatic pressure of sufficient magnitude. The response of ductility to pressure, however, has been shown to vary considerably between materials. Prior work has shown that the effects of pressure upon the tensile ductility of Fe-C materials depend upon the amount, shape and distribution of the brittle cementite phase. In this current investigation, the effects of pressure upon the fracture mechanisms in a series of annealed and spheroidized Fe-C materials were examined. It was observed that the principal effect of pressure is to suppress void growth and coalescence, retard cleavage fracture and to enhance the ductility of cementite platelets in pearlite. Based upon the observed effects of pressure upon the fracture mechanisms, a proposed explanation for the enhancement in ductility by pressure and for the structure sensitivity of the phenomena is presented and discussed. THE effect of superposed pressure upon the tensile ductility of a variety of metals has been well documented.'-'' Some of the results from several investigators are summarized in Fig. 1 where tensile ductility in terms of true strain to fracture (ef) is plotted as a function of the superposed pressure. As can be seen, a pressure of sufficient magnitude can significantly enhance the ductility of metals. However, Fig. 1 also demonstrates that the response of ductility to pressure and the form of the ductility-pressure relationship varies considerably between materials. Several explanations have been offered for the observed enhancement in ductility by a superposed pressure. Although no experimental evidence was provided, Bridgman13 and Bobrowsky10 proposed that the observed effect was due to the prevention or healing of microcracks or holes. Bulychev et a1.14 observed that cracks and voids in initially prestrained copper were healed in the necked region of a tensile specimen upon further straining while under a superposed pressure. Also, pugh5 observed that large cavities were suppressed in copper fractured in tension while under pressure. A second proposal has been forwarded by Beresnev et at al.6 This proposal is based upon the hypothesis that a material fails in a brittle manner because the normal tensile stress reaches a critical value before the shear stress is of sufficient magnitude to cause plastic flow. Since a superposed hydrostatic pressure will increase the ratio of shear to normal tensile stress, a sufficiently high hydrostatic pressure should favor plastic flow while retarding brittle fracture. Galli15 reported that a superposed pressure shifts the ductile-brittle transition temperature of molybdenum. This was explained based upon the reduction of the normal tensile stress by the superposed pressure. Pugh5 explained the occurrence of the observed pressure induced brittle-to-ductile transition in zinc in the same manner. Davidson et al.12 proposed an explanation for the enhancement of ductility by pressure based upon the effects of pressure upon the stress-state-sensitive stages of various fracture propagation mechanisms. Basically, they proposed that pressure will retard cleavage and intergranular fracture by counteracting the required normal tensile stress or will suppress void growth. They observed suppression of intergranular fracture and void growth in magnesium by pressure. Davidson and .Ansell16 reported ductility as a function of pressure for a series of annealed and spheroidized Fe-C alloys. Fig. 2, from this prior work, demonstrates that the effect of pressure upon ductility is structure sensitive in terms of the amount, shape and distribution of the brittle cementite phase. As shown in Fig. 2, in the absence of cementite or when the cementite is in isolated particle form (spheroidized), the ductility-pressure relationship is linear and the slope decreases with increasing carbon content. In the annealed carbon-bearing alloys wherein the cementite is in the form of closely spaced platelets (pearlite) or in the form of a continuous network along prior aus-tenite boundaries (1.1 pct C material), ductility as a function of pressure is nonlinear (polynomial relationship) in which the slope increases with increasing pressure. At the highest pressures studied (22.8 kbars), the slope of the curves for these materials tends to approach those for the spheroidized material of the same carbon content. In this current investigation the change in fracture mechanisms as a function of pressure for the materials shown in Fig. 2 has been examined. The possible connection between the observed effects of pressure upon the fracture mechanisms and the effect of pressure upon ductility is discussed.