PSI - Issue 81

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ScienceDirect

Procedia Structural Integrity 81 (2026) 140–142

© 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); localized anodic dissolution (LAD); stress corrosion cracking (SCC); SCC 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). The paper studies the anisotropy of stress corrosion cracking (SCC) behaviour in heavily cold drawn pearlitic steels supplied as prestressing steel wires for prestressed concrete. Abstract The paper studies the anisotropy of stress corrosion cracking (SCC) behaviour in heavily cold drawn pearlitic steels supplied as prestressing steel wires for prestressed concrete. 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 SCC is a directional property that depends 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 cold drawing degree. VIII International Conference “In -service Damage of Materi als: Diagnostics and Prediction” (DMDP 2025) Delayed anisotropy of stress corrosion cracking in cold drawn pearlitic steel supplied in the form of prestressing wires Towards the Weakest Crack Path 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.2026.03.025