Effect of carbon concentration on tensile behaviour of pearlitic steels

A quantitative relationship between flow stress and microstructure is studied for pearlitic steels incorporating 0.39 - 0.77 wt-% carbon. The distribution of true lamellar spacing (S-0) is determined. It is found that S-0 depends on carbon concentration and pearlite transformation temperature accompanying a considerable distribution. The 0.2% 14 proof stress is described as a function of the averaged S-0 but the influence of the accuracy in S-0 measurement precludes satisfactory prediction of the 0.2% proof stress. High work hardening corresponds to the generation of phase stress caused by misfit plastic strain between ferrite and cementite. The stress partitioning behaviour between ferrite and cementite is verified by in situ neutron diffraction during tensile deformation.