Abstract
Mechanism of surface crack formation of steel induced by residual copper (Cu) is investigated using a new technique of Greeble test. Two kinds of experiments were carried out, to clarify the effect of temperature and to understand the behavior of crack growth. Crack is caused by liquid Cu, which precipitates at steel-scale interface during oxidation. However, no crack formed at higher temperature. Micro analysis indicates that it is due to the formation of liquid scale above eutectic temperature of FeO-2FeO·SiO2. Liquid Cu-precipitates are trapped in the liquid scale area, and they cannot penetrate into austenite grain boundaries. The fact that silicon addition reduces the crack formation also supports this mechanism.
Deformation test with various strains reveals that there exist two stages in the behavior of crack growth. At the firststage, crack grows deeper, because liquid Cu penetrates into the boundary. The crack stops growing along the depth direction and opens its width in the second stage, because of the lack of liquid Cu. That means the amount of Cu-precipitates decides the crack depth.
