Compositionally graded steels: The effect of partial decarburization on the mechanical properties of spherodite and pearlite

Compositionally graded materials represent a form of composite in which the constituent phases can be selected to control the total range of events occurring during plastic deformation. These include the overall work hardening rate, the degree of kinematic hardening, the onset of damage event at specific points of the microstructure and the fracture process. In the current work compositionally graded steels based on decarburization of a 1070 steel were developed and their detailed mechanical behavior analyzed.