Some Comments Concerning the Chronic Problem of Reverse Temper Embrittlement (RTE) in Low Alloy Steels

摘要

The present paper attempts to assess the many aspects which are involved in the old, interesting and somewhat perplexing grain boundary segregation phenomenon commonly known a reverse temper embrittlement, RTE. The actual mechanisms involving grain boundary failure and the mechanics of impurity segregation at grain boundaries are discussed at length. The thermodynamics of impurity segregation, which is treated as an equillibrium type process, together with the segregation kinetics, which are required for an estimation of the extent of grain boundary impurity segregation in terms of time and temperature, are also considered.