Density measurements were made on specimens of Hadfield steel deformed to various strains in tension and compression to determine values of the dislocation density. The rate of dislocation accumulation was considerably higher than for other face-centered cubic metals reported in the literature. However, the high work hardening rate at true strains above about 0.15 was attributed mainly to mechanical twinning, which contributed about twice the effect of that from dislocation accumulation.

On Dislocation Accumulation and Work Hardening in Hadfield Steel. B.Hutchinson, N.Ridley: Scripta Materialia, 2006, 55[4], 299-302