Mechanical & microstructural evaluation of reversible and irreversible embrittlement in ultra-high strength steel

Effect of heat treatment processes on the microstructure and mechanical properties of low alloy structural steels with different impurity tin contents

“…It is widely known that tin, antimony and phosphorus tend to segregate at grain boundaries during heat treatment process, which reduces the interface energy of grain boundaries, weakens the binding force between grains, and accelerates the nucleation and growth of grain boundary micropore. Therefore, the existence of residual elements will seriously deteriorate the steel properties, such as reducing their ductility [4] and toughness [5][6][7][8], worsening hot ductility [9][10][11][12][13][14][15], acting as the origin of temper embrittlement [16][17][18][19] and aggravating surface hot shortness [20].…”