Micromechanical investigation of the hot ductility behavior of steel

Using a periodic microfield approach a micromechanical study is presented, which is capable to describe the ductility losses due to a film like ferrit e precipitation in the high temperature region of iron based alloys by cons idering the two phase microstructure close to phase transformation temperat ures and explicitly accounting for the elasto-plastic material properties o f each present phase. For the temperature range close to the A(e3) temperature it will be demonst rated that the hot ductility behavior is directly correlated to the volume fraction of ferrite which develops along the austenitic grain boundary and the global strain rate of the specimen.