Yield-Point Phenomenon and Plastic Bands in Ferrite–Pearlite Steels

Lüders deformation is one type of discontinuous yielding in ferrite–pearlite steel. The yield-point phenomenon and localized plastic bands are two features of the Lüders phenomenon. It is believed that the yield-point phenomenon is related to the formation of plastic bands, but the correlation between them is unclear. In this study, this correlation was investigated by examining the global and local deformation behaviors in the tension processes of four ferrite–pearlite steels (carbon content, 0.05–0.3%; pearlite fraction, 1.2–32%) via an extensometer and digital image correlation (DIC) technique. The main obtained results are as follows: (1) the degree of yield drop decreased with an increase in the pearlite fraction (the magnitude of the yield stress drop was 8.6–0 MPa), and (2) a plastic band was formed at a certain stress level smaller than the upper yield stress; when the stress level was larger than 92% of the upper yield stress, the upper yield point disappeared.