MICROSTRUCTURAL BASES OF ANISOTROPIC FRACTURE-BEHAVIOR OF HEAVILY DRAWN STEEL

An explanation of the anisotropic fracture behaviour of heavily drawn steels is proposed on the basis of micromechanical considerations: the change in crack propagation direction can be explained by the oriente d pearlitic microstructure of the steels. Apart from the standard pear litic colonies (more or less oriented), an exceptional pearlitic pseud ocolony can be observed, extremely slender and aligned in the drawing direction, which makes it a preferential fracture path with minimum lo cal resistance.