Plastic anisotropy in yield stress of drawn pearlitic steels

Plastic anisotropy in the yield stress of pearlitic steels evolved by drawing was studied. The tension and compression tests were performed in parallel and perpendicular directions to the drawing direction. The yield stress in the parallel tension and vertical compression tests increased with the increase in drawing strain. On the other hand, in the parallel compression, the yield stress decreased significantly at the small drawing strain and then increased at the larger strain. The difference between the yield stress at the tension and at the compression did not change largely after the start of the drawing. The observation of microstructure indicated no significant heterogeneity of the deformation microstructure and texture at the different locations in the radial direction of the drawn samples, meaning that the plastic anisotropy was brought by reasons other than the non-uniformity of the deformation condition. The measurement of the distribution of the local misorientation in ferrite suggested the large plastic deformation even at smaller strain by drawing. This result indicates that the residual stress in plastically deformed ferrite brings back stress, which can be the source of the plastic anisotropy.