PSI - Issue 81

Available online at www.sciencedirect.com

ScienceDirect

Procedia Structural Integrity 81 (2026) 95–97

© 2026 The Authors. Copy from the contract: Published by ELSEVIER B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0) Peer-review under responsibility of DMDP 2025 organizers Keywords: eutectoid steel; prestressing steel; pearlitic steel; cold drawing; pearlitic microstructure; drawing-induced microstructural evolution; microstructural orientation; pearlite interlamellar spacing decrease; environmentally assisted cracking (EAC); hydrogen embrittlement (HE); hydrogen assisted cracking (HAC); HAC paths; anisotropic behaviour. 1. Introduction High-strength prestressing steel wires are manufactured by progressive cold drawing to increase both the yield strength  Y and the ultimate tensile strength (UTS)  R of the steel and allow it to be used as the main constituent of prestressed concrete structural elements. The manufacture technique consisting of progressive (cumulative) cold drawing of pearlitic wires through a series of dies with diameters progressively thinner produces important microstructural changes in the material that could influence its posterior performance. Evidence exists in the scientific literature showing the anisotropic fracture behaviour of prestressing steel in air (Toribio et al., 1997) as well as in aggressive environments promoting stress corrosion cracking (SCC) in the material (Cherry and Price, 1980; Sarafianos, 1989). This paper analyzes the anisotropy of hydrogen embrittlement (HE) in heavily cold drawn pearlitic steels supplied as prestressing steel wires for prestressed concrete in the presence of crack-like defects. Abstract This paper analyzes the anisotropy of hydrogen embrittlement (HE) in heavily cold drawn pearlitic steels supplied as prestressing steel wires for prestressed concrete in the presence of crack-like defects. In these materials, the manufacturing process by progressive (multi-step) cold drawing produces a preferential orientation of the pearlitic microstructure in the matter of colonies (first microstructural level) and ferrite/cementite lamellae (second microstructural level), thereby inducing strength anisotropy in the steel, and thus the resistance to HE is a directional property depending on the angle in relation to the drawing direction. Therefore, an initial transverse crack changes its propagation direction to approach that of the wire axis or cold drawing direction, thus producing mixed mode propagation, the deflection angle being an increasing function of the drawing degree. VIII International Conference “In -service Damage of Materi als: Diagnostics and Prediction” (DMDP 2025) Anisotropy of hydrogen embrittlement induced by cracks in cold drawn pearlitic steels supplied in the form of prestressing wires: A Tribute to Andrea Mantegna Jesús Toribio* Fracture & Structural Integrity Research Group (FSIRG), University of Salamanca (USAL) E.P.S., Campus Viriato, Avda. Requejo 33, 49022 Zamora, Spain

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +34-677566723; fax: +34-980545002. E-mail address: toribio@usal.es

2452-3216 © 2026 The Authors. Copy from the contract: Published by ELSEVIER B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0) Peer-review under responsibility of DMDP 2025 organizers 10.1016/j.prostr.2026.03.017