PSI - Issue 81

Jesús Toribio et al. / Procedia Structural Integrity 81 (2026) 135–139

138

STEEL 0

STEEL 1

STEEL 2

STEEL 3

STEEL 4

STEEL 5

STEEL 6

Fig. 4. Microscopic fracture modes in all the steels used in the experimental programme. The micrographs correspond to the whole surface in steels 0 and 1, the main fracture surface after the initial MVC band in steels 2 and 3, and the main fracture surface after the propagation step in steels 4 to 6. Fracture propagates from the bottom to the top 4. Conclusions The results of this study show that progressive cold drawing affects clearly the fracture performance of pearlitic steels for use in prestressed concrete. While the fracture behaviour of slightly drawn steels is isotropic, the most heavily drawn steels exhibit strength anisotropy and crack deflection. At the microscopic level, clear changes are observed in the micrographs with appearances from cleavage-like (brittle) in the slightly drawn steels to predominant micro-void coalescence (ductile) in the heavily drawn steel. 5. Epilogue: A Tribute to Andrea Mantegna Heavily cold-drawn pearlitic steel wires exhibit in their crack path evidence of strongly anisotropic behavior with a marked deflection/deviation angle of 90º. This resembles Mantegna’s Dead Christ Perspective (MDCP) painting with its relevant and