To understand the origin of cleavage fracture which dominates in Fe(Mn)-Al-C alloys at a high phosphorus concentration, we performed first-principles study of the phosphorus effect on ideal cleavage energy and critical stress in κ-carbide, Fe3 AlC, a precipitate in the austenitic alloys. We find that phosphorus has higher solubility in Fe3 AlC than in γ-Fe and sharply reduces the cleavage characteristics of κ-carbide. We show that strong anisotropy of the Fe-P bonds in Fe3 (Al,P) C under tensile stress, leads to the appearance of large structural voids and may facilitate crack nucleation
