Deformation bands in fully pearlitic steel during wire drawing

The deformation of fully pearlitic steels during wire drawing has been investigated for both longitudinal section and transverse section by back-scattered electron imaging (BSEI), electron back-scattered diffraction (EBSD), and transmission electron microscope (TEM). The results show that a large number of deformation bands (DBs) composed of a mixture of kink-like bands and shear-like bands were observed both in the longitudinal section and the traverse section of the drawn wires. The formation of such bands involves two aspects: heterogeneous deformation in the scale of pearlite colonies and instability of ferrite-cementite interfaces due to stress concentration during wire drawing. The development of such bands in fully pearlitic steels dominates the formation of metallographic texture, reduces the pearlite interlamellar spacing and promotes the development of < 110 > fiber crystalline texture of ferrite matrix during wire drawing.