Investigation of the plastic fracture of high strength steels
This investigation deals in detail with the three recognized stages of plastic fracture in high strength steels, namely, void initiation, void growth, and void coalescence. The particular steels under investigation include plates from both commercial purity and high purity heats of AISI 4340 and 18 Ni, 200 grade maraging steels. A scanning electron microscope equipped with an X-ray energy dispersive analyzer, together with observations made using light microscopy, revealed methods of improving the resistance of high strength steels to plastic fracture.