The ductility and toughness of iron-nickel alloys in liquid mercury

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Abstract
The smooth and notched tensile properties of a series of iron-nickel alloys ranging from 2 to 18 wt.% nickel were determined in liquid mercury. Samples were tested in both the as-annealed and as-cold-worked conditions. In smooth tensile specimens the mercury environment had little effect on the ductility at lower nickel levels, but lowered the ductility at higher nickel levels. In the notched specimens, however, increasing nickel contents, up to about 7 or 8%, significantly increased the fracture toughness. Increased nickel contents above 8% led to martensitic rather than ferritic structures and decreased the fracture toughness. The differences between notched and smooth tensile results are discussed in terms of the effect of a notch in concentrating deformation at the surface of the specimen. The variations in toughness with nickel content are considered to be due to the effect of nickel in homogenizing slip in ferritic structures and to the trend toward coarse, albeit wavy, slip in martensitic structures.

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