Int J Fract (2009) 160:143–149
DOI 10.1007/s10704-009-9414-8
ORIGINAL PAPER
The effect of aluminum alloying on ductile-to-brittle
transition in Hadfield steel single crystal
E. G. Astafurova · Yu. I. Chumlyakov ·
H. J. Maier
Received: 9 April 2009 / Accepted: 5 October 2009 / Published online: 22 October 2009
© Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2009
Abstract The ductile-to-brittle transition (DBT) in
Fe-13Mn-1.3C (Hadfield steel, I) and Fe-13Mn-2.7
Al-1.3C (Hadfield steel, II) (wt.%) single crystals ori-
ented along [011], [1̄44], and [1̄11] directions was
investigated under tension in the temperature inter-
val of 77 to 673 K. The DBT temperature interval
was found to be independent of single crystal orienta-
tion. The DBT temperatures were estimated (1) as the
mean value between the temperature corresponding to
the minimum crystal ductility and the one coinciding
with the onset of the plateau of the ε(T)-dependence
(TDBT1 ); and (2) as the temperature where the vol-
ume fraction of brittle failure on the fracture surfaces
was 50% (TDBT2 ). The DBT temperatures estimated
this way, do not coincide for both steels. Mechani-
cal twinning has been reported as the primary reason
for the occurrence of the DBT in austenitic high-car-
bon Hadfield steel and appears to account for the dif-
ference in DBT temperatures as well. Alloying with
E. G. Astafurova (B)
Laboratory of Physical Materials Science, Institute of
Strength Physics and Materials Science SB RAS,
Akademichesky prospect 2/4, 634021 Tomsk, Russia
e-mail: astafe@ispms.tsc.ru
Y. I. Chumlyakov
Laboratory of Physics of Plasticity and Strength, Siberian
Physical Technical Institute, Novosobornaya sq. 1, 634050
Tomsk, Russia
H. J. Maier
Lehrstuhl f. Werkstoffkunde (Materials Science), University
of Paderborn, Pohlweg 47-49, 33098 Paderborn, Germany
aluminum partially suppresses twinning in steel (II).
Twinning sets in only after a certain amount of disloca-
tion slip, but still influences the fracture mechanism of
steel (II).
Keywords Ductile-to-brittle transition · Hadfield
steel · Slip · Twinning
1 Introduction
Pure BCC metals and alloys often exhibit a ductile-
to-brittle transition (DBT). Below the ductile-to-brittle
transition temperature (DBTT) the strength increases
significantly and little plastic deformation occurs prior
to failure. The DBT in BCC metals often corresponds to
a change in fracture mode from a ductile fibrous one to
cleavage. The fast decrease in flow stress with increase
in temperature is typical for these materials, and drop of
stresses for plastic flow suppresses cleavage and favors
ductile void growth (Riedel 1993). FCC materials show
mainly a gradual change in ductility and flow stress as
a function of test temperature (Riedel 1993; Christian
and Mahajan 1995). Still, a DBT occurs in some FCC
metals and alloys, for example, in iridium (Panfilov
and Yermakov 2004), precipitation hardened Cu-Al-Co
alloys and austenitic stainless nitrogen-bearing steels
(Tomota et al. 1998a,b; Müllner 1997). Austenitic Had-
field steel (10–14 wt.% Mn, 1–1.4 wt.% C, Fe balance)
also demonstrates a DBT, and in the low-temperature
region it shows brittle intragranular fracture.
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144 E. G. Astafurova et al.

Table 1 Slip and twinning

Axis orientation Slip systems SF for slip Twin systems SF for twinning
systems with the highest
Schmid factors (SF) for
  
 
 
1̄11 [011] 1̄1̄1 , 1̄10 1̄1̄1 , 0.27 1̄21 1̄1̄1 0.31
single crystals
oriented

for
   
 
tension along 1̄11 , 1̄44 , 1̄01 1̄11̄ , [011] 1̄11̄ , 1̄12 1̄11̄




[011] directions 1̄10 (111), 1̄01 (111) 2̄11 (111)





1̄44 1̄01 (111), 1̄10 (111) 0.42 2̄11 (111) 0.50




[011] 1̄01 (111), 1̄10 (111), 0.41 2̄11 (111) 0.47
     
[110] 1̄11 , [101] 1̄11 [211] 1̄11

Hadfield steel is an austenitic manganese steel,
which possesses a high strain hardening rate, excellent
wear resistance and toughness. This combination
makes this steel attractive for industrial applications
in the fields of earthmoving, mining, quarrying, oil
well drilling, steelmaking and railroading. Both the
high manganese and carbon contents in Hadfield steel
reduce the martensite start temperature, and thus the
austenite is stable down to the temperature of liq-
uid nitrogen (77 K). The unusually high strain hard-
ening of Hadfield steel was attributed to the forma-
tion of twin boundaries, which are strong barriers to
dislocation motion (Adler et al. 1986; Raghavan et
al. 1969). Another reason that explains the unusual
work hardening behavior is dynamic strain aging pro-
duced by the reorientation of carbon in C–Mn couples
in the cores of dislocations (Dastur and Leslie 1981;
Owen and Grujicic 1999), which favors fast dislocation
accumulation.
Deformation twinning in Hadfield steel occurs by
discontinuous plain splitting of a/2 < 110 > perfect slip
dislocations into two a/6 < 211 > Shockley partials joint
by stacking faults on {111} slip planes, which are also
the habit planes. This results in a diffusionless shear of
a plate-shaped region of the parent crystal, which dif-
ferentiates it from the surrounding. Mechanical twin-
ning in FCC metals is less common compared to BCC
or HCP materials (Christian and Mahajan 1995). In
Hadfield steel, however, the high solute concentrations
simultaneously raise the shear stress for slip (mainly
due carbon) and reduce the stacking fault energy (man-
ganese) to γSF = 0.03 J m−2 (Adler et al. 1986). The
stacking fault width is inversely proportional to the
stacking fault energy, which makes dislocation cross
slip more difficult. Moreover, the stress for nucleation
of deformation twins is also proportional to the stack-
ing fault energy, and thus, a lower stacking fault energy
increases the tendency for twinning.
Twinning, dislocation slip and strain aging all con-
tribute to the fracture behavior in Hadfield steel.
The relevance of the individual effects is, however,
not clearly understood. In austenitic stainless steels
that underwent twinning, cleavage-like fracture was
observed to arise due to the intersection of mechanical
twins (Müllner et al. 1994). The process of twin–twin
or twin–slip interaction is accompanied by emission of
dislocations inside and outside of the twin acting as the
obstacle or along the twin boundary. When the thick-
ness of a twin is lower than the critical value needed to
nucleate a dislocation inside or outside of the twin, then
shear transfer over the twin boundary becomes difficult
and cleavage-like fracture occurs (Müllner et al. 1994).
In the present study single crystals were employed
to exclude the contributions of the grain boundaries
to work hardening and fracture. Moreover, the choice
of specimens with the tensile axes oriented along the
[011], [1̄44], and [1̄11] directions allowed to study
strain hardening and fracture under conditions where
mechanical twinning dominates, as the Schmid factors
for twinning in these orientations are higher than those
for slip (Table 1) (Berner and Kronmüller 1965). More-
over, the variation of the initial orientations from [1̄11]
to [011] and [1̄44] also changes the number of twinning
systems (Table 1), which in turn provides information
on the influence of multiplicity of twinning on the frac-
ture mechanism.
Aluminium increases the stacking fault energy of
Hadfield steel to a value of 0.05 J m−2 and reduces
the mobility of carbon in solid solution (Zuidema et
al. 1987). Thus, alloying of Hadfield steel with alu-
minium suppresses both twinning and dynamic strain
aging (Zuidema et al. 1987; Astafurova et al. 2007a;
Canadinc et al. 2005). The unusually high strain hard-
ening coefficient of G/23 (G-shear modulus) observed
in the aluminum-alloyed Hadfield steel single crystals
(2.6% Al, in wt.) is attributed to the formation of high

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The effect of aluminum alloying on ductile-to-brittle transition in Hadfield steel single crystal 145

density dislocation walls due to planar dislocation slip. 3 Results and discussion
However, twinning is also present as a secondary
deformation mechanism in aluminum-alloyed Hadfield The effect of temperature on uniform elongation εp and
steel, although the volume fraction is small (Astafurova critical resolved shear stress τcr for steels (I) and (II) is
et al. 2007b; Canadinc et al. 2005). Thus, using the presented in Fig. 1, which demonstrates that the DBT
[011], [1̄44], and [1̄11] single crystals of aluminum- temperature interval does not depend on the single crys-
alloyed Hadfield steel allowed for investigation of the tal orientation.
deformation behaviour and fracture behaviour under The strong temperature dependences of critical
conditions where the activity of mechanical twinning resolved shear stress (Fig. 1) is normally not observed
and dynamic strain aging are reduced as compared to in conventional FCC materials. The rapid increase
the aluminium-free steel. in τcr below 200 K is a result of the high content
of interstitials in Hadfield steel (1.3 wt.% carbon) as
thermal activation processes become less likely at low
2 Methods temperatures (Berner and Kronmüller 1965). Simi-
lar strengthening mechanisms have been reported for
The materials used in this study were Hadfield steel nitrogen-alloyed in austenitic steels with low stacking
(Fe-13 Mn-1.3C wt.%, referred to as steel I) and alu- fault energy (Chumlyakov et al. 1996).
minium-alloyed Hadfield steel (Fe-13 Mn-2.7 Al-1.3C,
steel II). Single crystals were grown by the Bridgman
technique in an inert gas atmosphere. All crystals were
then homogenized in an argon atmosphere at 1373 K for
24 h. Electro-discharge machining was utilized to cut
regular dog-bone shaped flat tensile specimens with
nominal dimensions of 12 mm × 3 mm × 1.5 mm in
the gauge section. The tensile specimens were solu-
tion-treated at 1373 K for 1 h and then water-quenched.
Finally, grinding and an electrochemical polish (50 g
CrO3 , in 200 g H3 PO4 ) were employed to remove the
entire processing-affected surface layer.
The orientation of the crystal axis was determined
using a DRON-3 M X-ray diffractometer. Tensile tests
were conducted in the temperature interval of 77–673 K
at a strain rate of 4 × 10−4 s−1 . The critical resolved
shear stresses were determined as τcr = mσ0.2 , where
σ0.2 is the 0.2% offset yield stress and m is the Schmid
factor for slip (assuming that slip precedes twinning
for all test temperatures). The uniform elongation was
determined as the maximum uniform plastic strain (εp )
before fracture. Experiments were repeated on five
companion specimens to check repeatability. For frac-
ture analysis a Philips SEM 515 scanning electron
microscope (SEM) was utilised.
In order to characterize the microstructural changes
occurring during deformation, tensile tests were inter-
rupted at given strains, and electron transparent foils
Fig. 1 The effect of temperature on critical resolved shear
were prepared from these samples by conventional stresses τcr (curves 1) and uniform elongation εp (curves 2, 3)
twin-jet electropolishing. For microstructural analysis, for steel (I) (a) and steel (II) (b). a Curves 1, 2–[1̄11] orientation,
a Philips CM 200 transmission electron microscope steel (I); 3–[1̄44] orientation, steel (I), b 1, 2–[1̄11] orientation,
(TEM) operated at 200 kV was employed. steel (II); 3–[011] orientation, steel (II)

123
146
Fig. 2 SEM micrographs
for the [1̄11]-oriented single
crystals of steel (I) (a, c, e)
and steel (II) (b, d, f): a,
b–T = 77 K; c, d–T = 295 K;
e, f–T = 673 K
Both Hadfield steels show a non-linear increase in
plastic strain with temperature (Fig. 1). For steel (I), the
temperature interval can be divided into two regimes.
For T > 200 K temperature has only a minor effect on
εp and τcr , whereas below 200 K, an abrupt embrit-
(I)
tlement occurs (Fig. 1a). The DBT temperature TDBT1
of ∼ 140 K for steel (I) was estimated as the mean
value between the temperature corresponding to the
minimum crystal ductility (77 K) and the temperature
(∼200 K) corresponding to the onset of the plateau
observed in the εp (T)-curve (Fig. 1a). The DBT regime
for steel (II) is not so well defined, but can be recog-
nized using the change in the dεp /dT slope. Alloying
with aluminum widens the DBT interval and moves the
(II)
DBT temperature to TDBT1 ∼ 180 K (Fig. 1b).
Typical SEM images of fracture surfaces for [1̄11]-
oriented single crystals of steels (I) and (II) at temper-
atures of 77, 295, and 673 K are shown in Fig. 2. For
[011], [1̄44], and [1̄11]-oriented single crystals of steel
(I) at T = 77 K, a cleavage-type fracture takes place
(Fig. 2a). As revealed by X-ray diffraction and TEM,
123
E. G. Astafurova et al.
the plane facets of cleavage lie along crystallographic
planes of the {111}-type, which are slip and twinning
planes for FCC crystals. Moreover, steel (II) not only
demonstrates brittle fracture in tension at T = 77 K,
but fracture surface is divided into small cleavage-like
fragments, which are misoriented with respect to each
other (Fig. 2b). Macroscopically the fracture surface
of steel (II) is oriented normal to the applied tensile
stress, whereas on the micro scale the small flat regions
are close to {111} cleavage planes. As temperatures is
increased, the fracture surfaces of both steels start to
develop a more complex morphology revealing a com-
bination of ductile and brittle regions (Fig. 2c, d) up to
about 473 K. Finally, at T = 673 K the fracture mode
is completely ductile for both steels (Fig. 2e, f).
With the increase in test temperature, the transition
to ductile fracture sets in a bit earlier for steel (II) as
compared to steel (I). This is demonstrated in Fig. 3a,
which shows the amount of brittle fracture components
measured on the fracture surfaces of failed specimens.
A commonly used estimate for the DBT temperature
The effect of aluminum alloying on ductile-to-brittle transition in Hadfield steel single crystal 147

is the temperature at which the fraction of the brittle

component on the fracture surfaces reaches 50%. These
(I)
temperatures were determined as TDBT2 ∼ 350 K and
(II)
TDBT2 ∼ 300 K for steels (I) and (II), respectively
(Fig. 3a).
Clearly, DBT temperatures determined based on the
change in ductility (Fig. 1) are different from those
calculated based on fractographic appearance (Fig. 3).
Consequently, the temperature interval studied was
divided into three regimes as demonstrated in Fig. 3b
for the example of a [1̄11]-oriented single crystals of
steel (I). The boundaries of these regions are not exactly
defined but were chosen according to the following
considerations. Regime A corresponds to brittle frac-
ture in a general sense that is confirmed both by the
cleavage-like fracture mode and a low elongation to
failure. Regime B is a wide transition range, where
ductility can be as high as for the pure ductile mode,
but fracture surfaces demonstrate brittle behavior. For
steel (II), regime B is significantly narrower than for
steel (I), but, nevertheless, exists. Finally, Regime C is
the temperature interval where both data for elonga-
tion to failure as well as fractography indicate ductile
behavior. Fig. 3 a Temperature dependence of the amount of brittle com-
ponent on fracture surface for [1̄11]-oriented specimens of steels
The reason for the discrepancy between the brittle (I) (curve 1) and (II) (curve 2), and the mean twin thickness for
fractographic appearance and high ductility in Regime steel (I) (curve 3), b the amount of brittle component on fracture
B appears to be the temperature dependence of mor- surface (curve 1), uniform elongation ε (curve 2) depending on
phology of mechanical twinning, i.e. twin thickness test temperature for [1̄11]-oriented specimens of steel (I)
and density. As expected, twinning is active in the tem-
perature interval of 77–473 K for steel (I) (Fig. 4).
By contrast, alloying with aluminum should suppress main reason for the shift of the onset of twinning to
twinning in steel (II). Still, the basic features of the larger plastic strains and to lower temperatures. In fact,
DBT remained the same for both steels. The similar- extensive TEM investigations of dislocation arrange-
ities observed in the fracture modes of both steel can ments in single crystals of steel (II) demonstrated that
be rationalized if one assumes that aluminum alloying (i) independent of the initial tensile axis, no twins were
initially decreases the intensity of mechanical twinning observed at T > 473 K and (ii) at T = 300 K thin
in Hadfield steel, but does not fully suppress it (Asta- twins of one system were the distinctive feature of
furova et al. 2007b). the microstructure in [1̄11] crystals at ε ≥10% and
As revealed by TEM (Fig. 4a, b), mechanical in [011] crystals at ε ≥15% (Fig. 4c). Moreover, a low
twinning sets in from the very beginning of plastic temperature test on [011]-oriented samples of steel (II)
deformation (ε > 0.5%) for the [011]-, [1̄44]-, and demonstrated that a decrease in the temperature moves
[1̄11]-oriented crystals of steel (I) in the temperature the onset of twinning to earlier stages of plastic defor-
interval of 77–293 K. At higher temperatures (293– mation, i.e. twinning was observed at ε = 3–5% for
673 K) twinning also is also observed but it only sets T = 200 K (Fig. 4d) and at ε = 1% for T = 77 K.
in after substantial slip deformation. Returning to the fracture peculiarities for both steels,
As outlined before, alloying with aluminum the following assumption can be made: The twins tend
increases the stacking fault energy of Hadfield steel to be narrower in the lower the temperature (Christian
γSF from 0.03 J m−2 to 0.05 J m−2 . The rise of γSF in and Mahajan 1995). As demonstrated by TEM, twins
steel (II) as compared to steel (I) is assumed to be the are very thin at 77 K < T < 200 K in steel (I) (Fig. 3a),

123
148
Fig. 4 TEM images shown
twinning development in
steels (I) and (II). a Steel
(I), [1̄11], ε = 2%,
T = 77 K, b steel (I),
[1̄11], ε = 5%, T = 295 K,
c steel (II), [011], ε = 20%,
T = 295 K, d steel (II),
[011], ε = 10%, T = 200 K;
arrows show twin
reflections in SAD patterns
and thus, shear transition over twin boundaries is com-
plicated, as the distance between twin boundaries is
small for dislocation loop nucleation. In addition, the
stress level is high in this temperature regime and
accommodation of stresses by slip is also suppressed
(Fig. 1a). The combination of both effects leads to
cleavage along {111} planes in regime A.
At higher temperatures (regime B) the mutual pen-
etration of twins and slip dislocations is much easier
due to the increase in twin thickness and decrease in
resolved critical shear stresses (Fig. 1a). Müllner and
Solenthaler (1997) have also shown an effect of strain
on dislocation and twin densities in austenitic steels.
Plastic strain alters the twin density and the twin thick-
ness. Slip and twinning in conjugate systems at temper-
atures where the intersection with twin boundaries is
possible, results in noticeable homogeneous strain, lin-
ear stress-strain dependence and thickening of twins of
the primary twin system in Hadfield steel. After con-
siderable plastic strain, when twins become thin and
stresses are high due to strain hardening, fracture finally
occurs along twin boundaries. In this case, the total
elongation of the single crystals is high yet the frac-
ture surfaces demonstrate a brittle character (regime B).
Thus, the contribution of the conjugate twin systems to
overall strain might be small, but it is significant with
respect to the hardening behavior and fracture.
In Hadfield steel, dynamic strain aging and the high
mobility of carbon make the strain-rate dependence
β=σ/ln ε̇ near room temperature negative in steel
123
E. G. Astafurova et al.
(I) (Dastur and Leslie 1981; Astafurova et al. 2007a).
The high mobility of carbon in steel (I) also leads to
rapid recovery of short range order upon dislocation
movement (Dastur and Leslie 1981), and thus, to fast
dislocation accumulation. The latter provides for addi-
tional barriers to the motion of dislocations especially
at the twin boundaries during twin–twin or twin–slip
interactions.
Despite the fact that strain hardening of the alu-
minium-alloyed steel (II) is basically governed by the
interaction of pile-ups and multipoles (Astafurova et al.
2007b; Canadinc et al. 2005), twinning still influences
the fracture mode of steel (II). Alloying with alumi-
num only suppresses twinning initially, and thus, the
trends in fracture mode are similar. The differences in
the DBT temperatures of steel (II) and steel (I), are thus,
attributed to the differences in temperature dependence
of twinning deformation, twin morphology and dislo-
cation arrangement.
Finally, as the twin volume fraction becomes low in
steel (I) or negligible in steel (II) at high test tempera-
tures, ductile failure results for both steels in regime C.
4 Conclusions
Using single crystals of austenitic Fe-13 Mn-1.3C (steel
I) and Fe-13 Mn-2.7 Al-1.3C (steel II) (wt.%) Had-
field steels oriented along [011]-, [1̄44]-, and [1̄11]
directions, a ductile-to-brittle transition (DBT) has
The effect of aluminum alloying on ductile-to-brittle transition in Hadfield steel single crystal
been experimentally established. The DBT temperature
interval was found to be independent of the orientation
of the single crystals and to be influenced by the tem-
perature dependence and morphology of mechanical
twinning.
Twinning was revealed to be the primary deforma-
tion mechanism of the [011]-, [1̄44]-, and [1̄11]-ori-
ented Hadfield steel single crystals in the temperature
interval of 77 to 293 K. Alloying with aluminum sup-
presses twinning initially. After a significant amount of
slip twinning still set in and has a pronounced influence
on the fracture mode of steel II. Consequently, frac-
ture surfaces appear brittle at intermediate temperature
despite the high elongation to failure demonstrated by
the samples.
Acknowledgments The work was partially supported by Rus-
sian Foundation for Basic Researches (project # 07-08-00064).
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