Alternating ductile and brittle cracking mode in medium manganese steel sheets
(2025) Scripta Materialia — Vol. 257, p. 116450 (2025)
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- Authors
Heremans, Thibaut 
- Abstract
- Medium manganese steel sheets exhibit an unusual alternating failure mode transition involving an arrowhead fracture pattern under various loading conditions. Tests were performed using an Arcan setup with different shearto- tension ratios and specimen orientations to explore the failure mechanisms and unravel the root causes of the transition. The fracture surfaces, characterized by optical and electron microscopy, show a periodic switchover from ductile damage to quasi-cleavage, organized into repeating arrowhead zones pointing towards the crack propagation direction. The step-by-step crack propagation leaves a signature on the load-displacement curve matching the discontinuous cracking events found on the fracture surfaces. A reduction of the stress-intensity factor due to sudden crack advance and associated load drop causes the brittle crack to arrest. Periodic porosity clusters under the fracture surface indicate re-blunting after each cycle of stable/unstable fracture.
- Affiliations
ArcelorMittal Global R&D Maizières Products WEL Research Institute
Citations
Heremans, T., Perlade, A., Jacques, P., & Pardoen, T. (2025). Alternating ductile and brittle cracking mode in medium manganese steel sheets. Scripta Materialia, 257, 116450. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scriptamat.2024.116450 (Original work published 2025)