Communications
way, as an attempt to produce a good combination of strength
Room-Temperature Cleavage
Fracture of FeMnAlC Steels
O. ACSELRAD, J. DILLE, L.C. PEREIRA,
and J.-L. DELPLANCKE
Alloys of the FeMnAlC system have been extensively stud-
ied in recent years, and perhaps their more attractive aspect is
the possibility of obtaining different combinations of mechan-
ical strength, ductility, and fracture toughness over a wide tem-
perature range. For structural purposes, a good combination
of mechanical strength and fracture toughness is desirable, and
so far the most commonly used treatment is that involving
quenching from temperatures within the austenitic field and
subsequent aging for 15 hours within 500 °C to 600 °C. The
resulting hardness and mechanical strength are high, but frac-
ture behavior may be unacceptable for critical applications.
Experiments concerning controlled cooling are under way, as
an attempt to produce a good combination of strength and frac-
ture toughness. In this communication, we discuss a specific
feature of fracture behavior revealed by specimens submitted
to one of the processing conditions under study.
Alloys of the FeMnAlC system have been extensively
studied in recent years, and perhaps their more attractive
aspect for structural application is the possibility of obtain-
ing different combinations of mechanical strength, ductility,
and fracture toughness over a wide temperature range. Above
850 °C, alloys with 28 to 30 pct Mn, 8 to 10 pct Al and 0.8
to 1 pct C (usual composition ranges) present a supersatu-
rated austenitic structure. After quenching to room temper-
ature, although the austenitic structure is not fully preserved,[1]
the resulting properties are high ductility (60 to 70 pct total
elongation) and reasonable mechanical strength (ultimate
tensile strength (UTS) around 800 to 900 MPa). This
austenitic phase undergoes a series of decomposition reac-
tions during isothermal holding within the temperature range
350 °C to 700 °C.[1] When aging at temperatures ranging
from 500 °C to 750 °C, a fine distribution of (Fe,Mn)3AlC
carbide (
phase) appears, resulting in a significant improve-
ment in mechanical strength.[2,3]
For structural purposes, a good combination of mechanical
strength and fracture toughness is desirable, and so far the most
commonly used treatment is that involving quenching from
temperatures within the austenitic field and subsequent aging
for 16 hours at 550 °C.[4] The resulting hardness and mechan-
ical strength are high (Hv of 340 and UTS around 1200 to 1400
MPa), but fracture behavior may be unacceptable for critical
applications. Experiments concerning controlled cooling from
O. ACSELRAD and L.C. PEREIRA, Professors, are with the Metallurgy
and Materials Engineering Department, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro,
21949-900 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. J. DILLE, Research Engineer, and
J.-L. DELPLANCKE, Director, are with the Science des Matériaux et Elec-
trochimie, Université Libre de Bruxelles, 1050 Brussels, Belgium.
Manuscript submitted November 18, 2003.
METALLURGICAL AND MATERIALS TRANSACTIONS A
solubilization temperature down to room temperature are under
and fracture toughness. In this article, we discuss a specific
feature of fracture behavior revealed by specimens submitted
to one of the controlled cooling conditions under study.
A 10-kg ingot of Fe-28Mn-8.5Al-1C steel with 1.25 pct
silicon was prepared in a vacuum induction furnace under
controlled argon ambient. It was then homogenized for 6 hours
at 1150 °C and then hot rolled to a final thickness of 13 mm.
After cutting into billets, the billets were solution treated at
1050 °C for 2 hours and water quenched.
A PHILIPS* CM 20 scanning transmission electron micro-
*PHILIPS is a trademark of Philips Electronic Instruments Corp., Mahwah.
scope (200 kV), a MEV-ZEISS 940-A electron scanning micro-
scope and a TMX 2010 Discoverer Topometrix Scanning Probe
Microscope (atomic force microscopy) were applied for
microstructural characterization. Fracture toughness was char-
acterized by KA, the apparent fracture toughness,[5] using con-
ventional Charpy 10  10 mm test specimens. The KA values
were determined after Charpy instrumented tests (Tinius Olsen
64 equipment with Dynatup 500 instrumentation system, USA)
at room temperature.
The controlled cooling experiments consisted of a fast cool-
ing from the solubilization temperature down to 550 °C, hold-
ing at this temperature for 7 minutes, and air cooling to room
temperature. Similar experiments were conducted at 700 °C,
and also with two successive 7-minute steps at 700 °C and
550 °C. These treatments were performed directly on the Charpy
specimens, care being taken so that the central region (the vol-
ume of material comprised between the lines situated at 5 mm
of both sides of the notch) was effectively submitted to the
thermal cycles, imposed by means of a Smitweld thermocycle
device. For a comparative study, samples were also directly water
quenched from the solubilization temperature.
Fracture toughness results and the hardness of differently
processed specimens are shown in Table I.
According to previous results,[1] the microstructure of the
controlled cooled specimen with a 7-minute step at 550 °C
consists of an austenitic matrix containing an extremely fine
distribution of
-phase particles. At the very beginning, fol-
lowing the initial spinodal decomposition of austenite, these
particles are formed as cuboids with dimensions of the order
of 2 to 3 nm, finely dispersed, coherent, and isomorphic to
the matrix.[6] After the 7-minute step at 550 °C, they can
be observed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), as
shown in Figure 1, with particles smaller than 10 nm in a
very compact distribution and partially aligned along the
001 axis of the austenitic matrix.
The controlled cooling procedure presents a promising
combination of hardness and toughness, but further devel-
opment demands the understanding of a particular feature
of the fracture process revealed by the impact test. The
fracture process of the specimen treated at 550 °C starts in
a ductile mode just after a narrow stretch zone (Figure 2)
and rapidly changes to a brittle fracture, with many trans-
granular cleavagelike facets containing linear markings along
three different directions. A better performance of these
alloys will only be possible once this cleavagelike fracture
is clearly understood so that an appropriate method can be
developed for suppressing such fracture behavior.
VOLUME 35A, DECEMBER 2004—3863
 Table I. Heat Treatments and Properties
Hardness
Treatment
Solubilized and water
quenched (austenitic)
Solubilized and aged at 550 °C
for 15 h (intense
-phase
precipitation)
Fast cooled from solubilization
temperature to 550 °C with 7 min
holding step followed by air cooling
to room temperature
Fast cooled from solubilization
temperature to 700 °C with 7 min
holding step followed by air cooling
to room temperature
Fig. 1—Fine
-phase precipitates after controlled cooling for 7 min at 550 °C,
atomic force microscopy.
Cleavagelike fracture facets as this were already observed
on several austenitic steels fractured at cryogenic tempera-
KA
1MPa 2 m2
tures.[7–11] On the other hand, no similar observation has
(Hv)
been done before on austenitic steels at room temperature.
Three different models are reported in the literature in order
270 330 to explain the brittle fracture of face-centered cubic alloys:
(1) nucleation of microcracks at intersections of deformation
436 84 twins, where high internal stresses are built up;[7]
(2) cracking caused by the formation of epsilon martensite
plates;[8] and
335 115 (3) slipping-off of active slip planes with a high density of
dislocations.[9,10,11]
Thin foils parallel to the fractured surface were prepared
325 130 right under the fracture surface. After that, they were exam-
ined by TEM. The observation reveals arrays of planar
dislocations forming slip bands and arrays of long disloca-
tions (Figure 3). These arrays are similar to those observed
by Tomota et al.[9] in high nitrogen bearing austenitic steels
fractured at 77 K. Neither mechanical twinning nor epsilon
martensite plates have been observed.
According to the model proposed by Tomota et al., the dis-
location substructure observed under the fractured surface of
our FeMnAlC alloy indicates that the primary fracture mech-
anism is slipping-off along the slip plane. Tobler and Meyn[11]
assume that this slip-band cracking is facilitated by planar
slip, and this may occur if some type of matrix hardening
process increases the difficulty of activating out secondary plane
slip. In this case, shear strain continues to accumulate in a
well-defined narrow slip band. The accumulation of dislocation-
induced defects in this band weakens it to the extent that the
component of tensile force on the band causes final separa-
tion, giving the observed cleavagelike appearance. For this alloy,
we believe that the most likely reason for matrix strengthening
is the fine precipitation of
carbides (Figure 1).
When the controlled cooling is conducted with the step at
700 °C, a completely different microstructural picture is estab-

(a) (b)
Fig. 2—Scanning electron micrographs obtained from the fractured surface of Charpy impact test specimen after controlled cooling experiment with a 7-min
step at 550 °C: (a) narrow stretch zone adjacent to notch root and ductile transition region; (b) detail of the ductile region; and (c) brittle fracture area, just
beyond the ductile region: cleavage facets with linear arrays and intergranular separations. (d) detail of Fig. (c).

3864—VOLUME 35A, DECEMBER 2004 METALLURGICAL AND MATERIALS TRANSACTIONS A

 (c) (d)
Fig. 2—(Continued). Scanning electron micrographs obtained from the fractured surface of Charpy impact test specimen after controlled cooling experiment
with a 7-min step at 550 °C: (a) narrow stretch zone adjacent to notch root and ductile transition region; (b) detail of the ductile region; and (c) brittle fracture
area, just beyond the ductile region: cleavage facets with linear arrays and intergranular separations. (d) detail of Fig. (c).

(a) (b)
Fig. 3—(a) and (b) TEM micrographs below the fractured surface of an impact test specimen controlled cooled with a 7-min step at 550 °C.

lished, since with longer times or higher temperatures, the
size of the
-phase particles increases and their composition
and lattice parameter change. A regular and periodic struc-
ture begins to appear, and as seen in Figure 4, the particles
are no longer nearly equiaxial, but about 25 to 30 nm in
their main dimension, regularly spaced along the crystallo-
graphic 001 directions of the austenitic matrix. It is pos-
sible that such a configuration is less severe in strengthening
the austenitic matrix than the extremely fine distribution of

-phase particles, once elastic distortions introduced in the
matrix can be at least partially relieved by the regular array
of larger particles disposed along the 001 directions.[6]
Therefore, as the preliminary results suggest (Hv equal to 325
and KA of 130 MPa 2 m ), a better performance can possi-
bly be obtained in terms of fracture once possible causes for
cleavagelike fracture are removed or prevented. In fact, we
did not observe in specimens treated at 700 °C for 7 minutes
signs of the cleavagelike fracture we described previously.
The authors express their gratitude to Dr. P. Lienard
(Faculte Polytechnique de Mons, Belgium) and Mr. D.L.C.
Neves, for their assistance in obtaining some of the experimental

METALLURGICAL AND MATERIALS TRANSACTIONS A VOLUME 35A, DECEMBER 2004—3865

 (a) (b)
Fig. 4—(a) and (b) TEM micrographs showing the modulated structure of the
-phase precipitates after controlled cooling for 7 min at 700 °C.

results, and to CNPq (Brazil)/FNRS (Belgium), for financial
support through International Cooperation Agreement Proc.
910105/99-5.
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