The ductility of continuously-cast steel near the melting point—hot tearing

At temperatures near the melting point steels fail in a brittle manner. This brittle failure can lead to the formation of surface and internal cracks in continuously cast steel, during casting, if the steel is subject to a tensile strain. In this investigation the nature of the brittle failure has been considered for a wide range of continuously-cast steels, by examining the strength and ductility of the steels as a function of temperature, composition, and cast structure. The results show that for steels containing 0.05 to 0.12 pct C, brittle failure is due to incipient melting at grain boundaries at temperatures between approximately 40°C below the solidus and the solidus. The incipient melting is ascribed to solute or residual segregation, at the grain boundaries following extensive boundary migration. For steel containing approximately 0.16 pct C, with increasing test temperature brittle failure starts 70°C below the solidus. For steels containing 0.25 to 1.0 pct C brittle failure starts 40°C below the solidus over the entire carbon range. Failure due to melting alone occurs interdendritically at temperatures above the solidus. In general the melting or ductile-brittle transition temperatures are independent of the initial cast structure, or large increases in the solute or residual levels, other than carbon.