Solute segregation in iron-based alloys

Abstract

Segregation of metalloid impurities to grain boundaries of iron and its alloys can produce brittle intergranular cracking under a variety of external conditions. This set of phenomena is reviewed in terms of: segregation in dilute iron–metalloid binary alloys, interactions of metalloid elements with other solutes to enhance or retard segregation, the thermodynamics of segregation in binary and ternary alloys, the use of Auger electron spectroscopy for analysis of fracture surfaces and for studies of segregation to free surfaces, and the effects of segregation on mechanical behavior. The derivation of the general equations of segregation in a ternary regular solution from the Guttmann analysis is given in the Appendix.