This paper describes the fracture toughness and microstructure relations for ultra-high-strength, low-alloy (UHSLA) steels corresponding to AISI 4340 composition. The steels were either cast or forged, heat treated at austenitizing temperatures from 840 to 1100°C, oil quenched and tempered at 180 and 650°C. Fracture toughness, tensile, and Charpy impact toughness tests, and testing of apparent fracture toughness under the influence of notch root radius, were performed simultaneously. Investigation of microstructures and corresponding mechanical properties, as well as fractographic examinations and evaluation of chemical heterogeneity, made it possible to elucidate the alteration of fracture behavior.

The Memorandum discusses the current situation on the inclusion of fracture-toughness testing requirements in specifications for high-strength steels used for military applications. The Memorandum was prepared at the request of The Technical Cooperation Program (TTCP), and contains information from Canadian and British members of that program, as well as U.S. information. Military applications discussed include missile motor cases, aircraft landing gear, gun tubes, armor plate, and hydrofoils. (Author).

In this book, advanced steel technologies mainly developed at the National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), Japan, for structure control, mechanical properties, and the related mechanisms are introduced and discussed. NIMS has long worked on developing advanced steel techniques, namely, producing advanced steels by using only simple alloying elements such as carbon, manganese, and silicon, and also by utilizing steel scrap. The hope is that this approach will lead to a technology of a so-called steel-to-steel recycling process, with the ultimate goal of a recycling process such as an automotive-steel-to-automotive-steel recycling process to take the place of the current cascade-type recycling system. The main idea is to utilize ultra-grain refining structures and hetero structures as well as martensite structures. In particular, the focus of this book is on tensile strength and toughness of advanced steels from both the fundamental and engineering points of view. Fundamentally, a unique approach to analysis is taken, based on fracture surface energy as effective grain size is employed to better understand the mechanism of property improvement. From the engineering point of view, in fracture toughness such factors as crack tip opening displacement (CTOD) of advanced steels are evaluated in comparison with those of conventional steels.