Crack tip fields and mixed mode fracture behaviour of progressively drawn pearlitic steel

This paper deals with the influence of the cold drawing process on the fracture behaviour of pearlitic steels. To this end, fracture tests under axial loading were performed on steel wires with different drawing degree (from a hot rolled bar to a commercial prestressing steel wire), transversely pre-cracked by fatigue, analyzing in detail the changes in fracture micromechanisms. The deflection angles of the fracture path were measured by longitudinal metallographic sections and the characteristic parameters of the loaddisplacement plot were related to different fracture events. Results allowed a calculation of critical stress intensity factors for different fracture angles and drawing degrees, thus evaluating the strength anisotropy and obtaining a sort of directional toughness