Study on dislocation slips in ferrite and deformation of cementite in cold drawn pearlitic steel wires from medium to high strain

The deformation of cementite was studied via optical microscopy and SEM in the longitudinal sections of pearlitic steel wires from medium to high strain. The cementite shows good deformability, the angle between the deformation direction of cementite and drawing direction decreases with increasing strain, and finally the deformation directions of cementite turn to the drawing axis at high strains. The deformation of the cementite is strongly related to plastic deformation in the ferrite, with coarse slip steps, S-bands and cracks across cementite observed parallel to either {110} α -Fe or {112} α -Fe plane traces determined by the largest Schmid factors. © 2011 Institute of Materials.