From ferrous metallurgy to materials science: A round trip

Abstract

In the framework of Ferrous Metallurgy, the 20th century saw an enormous increase in knowledge and the development of a large number of analyses and modeling techniques, some examples being physical metallurgy, phase transformations, fracture mechanics and microstructure-mechanical behavior interactions. This knowledge was gradually extended to other families of materials, leading to the emergence of Materials Science. Today, within the framework of Materials Science and Technology, an "explosion" of new models and techniques is occurring. This new knowledge is being applied to improving the behavior of ferrous metals, thus completing the round trip that began in the last century. In this manuscript, the case of free cutting steels is described as an example of this benefit.