Fracture and Structural Integrity e-ISSN 1971-8993 Open access
Failure Analysis, Case Studies and Forensic Engineering Vol. 17, No. 64 (2023)

Failure Analysis of Boron Steel Components for Automotive Applications

Author and affiliation details
  • Marco Virginio Boniardi Dipartimento di Meccanica, Politecnico di Milano, via La Masa 1, 20156 Milano, Italy
  • Andrea Casaroli Corresponding author Dipartimento di Meccanica, Politecnico di Milano, via La Masa 1, 20156 Milano, Italy andrea.casaroli@polimi.it
  • Laura Sirangelo Dipartimento di Meccanica, Politecnico di Milano, via La Masa 1, 20156 Milano, Italy
  • Sergio Monella Bodycote Trattamenti Termici S.p.A., via Carso 89, 25050 Madone (Bg), Italy
  • Michele Mazzola Bodycote Trattamenti Termici S.p.A., via Carso 89, 25050 Madone (Bg), Italy
DOI
10.3221/IGF-ESIS.64.09
Pages
137-147
Published
Licence
CC BY 4.0
Published inVol. 17, No. 64 (2023)Go to the issue

Abstract

The automotive industry is continuously looking for an innovative mix of new steels and manufacturing techniques in order to improve process chain efficiency and cost reduction. To this aim, boron steels are becoming increasingly popular thanks to their high hardenability and machinability. Due to their reduced finishing steps, boron steels are commonly processed using fine blanking technologies.

The success of fine blanking on boron steel components is due to heat treatments which must be carefully designed to avoid precipitation of boron-rich compounds that would lower steel hardenability. At high temperature, boron is very reactive with oxygen and nitrogen.

The main focus of this paper is to show some drawbacks that can occur during heat treatments of automotive components. An experimental campaign was performed on two different boron steels, namely EN 34MnB5 and EN 22MnB5. The steel samples were previously spheroidized annealed in a neutral environment (hydrogen/nitrogen atmosphere), and then fine blanked to obtain specific automotive components which were subsequently quenched and tempered. Experimental tests revealed precipitation of nanometric compounds, causing strong grain refinement and localized decrease of steel hardenability. Hardenability problems were brought back to nitrogen pick-up during initial spheroidize annealing treatments.

Keywords

Article history

  1. ReceivedUntil the next stage: 2 days
  2. RevisedUntil the next stage: 8 days
  3. AcceptedUntil the next stage: 46 days
  4. Published

How to cite

APA

Boniardi, M. V., Casaroli, A., Sirangelo, L., Monella, S., & Mazzola, M. (2023). Failure Analysis of Boron Steel Components for Automotive Applications. Fracture and Structural Integrity, 17(64), 137–147. https://doi.org/10.3221/IGF-ESIS.64.09

IEEE

M. V. Boniardi, A. Casaroli, L. Sirangelo, S. Monella, and M. Mazzola, “Failure Analysis of Boron Steel Components for Automotive Applications,” Fracture and Structural Integrity, vol. 17, no. 64, pp. 137–147, 2023, doi: 10.3221/IGF-ESIS.64.09.

MLA

Boniardi, Marco Virginio, et al. “Failure Analysis of Boron Steel Components for Automotive Applications.” Fracture and Structural Integrity, vol. 17, no. 64, 2023, pp. 137–147. https://doi.org/10.3221/IGF-ESIS.64.09.

Chicago

Boniardi, Marco Virginio, Andrea Casaroli, Laura Sirangelo, Sergio Monella, and Michele Mazzola. 2023. “Failure Analysis of Boron Steel Components for Automotive Applications.” Fracture and Structural Integrity 17 (64): 137–147. https://doi.org/10.3221/IGF-ESIS.64.09.

Harvard

Boniardi, M.V., Casaroli, A., Sirangelo, L., Monella, S. and Mazzola, M. (2023) ‘Failure Analysis of Boron Steel Components for Automotive Applications’, Fracture and Structural Integrity, 17(64), pp. 137–147. doi: 10.3221/IGF-ESIS.64.09.

Vancouver

Boniardi MV, Casaroli A, Sirangelo L, Monella S, Mazzola M. Failure Analysis of Boron Steel Components for Automotive Applications. Fracture and Structural Integrity. 2023;17(64):137-147. doi:10.3221/IGF-ESIS.64.09

BibTeX

@article{boniardi2023, author = {Boniardi, Marco Virginio and Casaroli, Andrea and Sirangelo, Laura and Monella, Sergio and Mazzola, Michele}, title = {Failure Analysis of Boron Steel Components for Automotive Applications}, journal = {Fracture and Structural Integrity}, year = {2023}, volume = {17}, number = {64}, pages = {137--147}, doi = {10.3221/IGF-ESIS.64.09}, url = {https://doi.org/10.3221/IGF-ESIS.64.09}, issn = {1971-8993} }

RIS

TY - JOUR AU - Boniardi, Marco Virginio AU - Casaroli, Andrea AU - Sirangelo, Laura AU - Monella, Sergio AU - Mazzola, Michele TI - Failure Analysis of Boron Steel Components for Automotive Applications JO - Fracture and Structural Integrity T2 - Fracture and Structural Integrity PY - 2023 DA - 2023/03/21 VL - 17 IS - 64 SP - 137 EP - 147 DO - 10.3221/IGF-ESIS.64.09 UR - https://doi.org/10.3221/IGF-ESIS.64.09 SN - 1971-8993 ER -

Licence

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International

May be shared and adapted, provided appropriate credit is given. Copyright © 2023 Marco Virginio Boniardi, Andrea Casaroli, Laura Sirangelo, Sergio Monella, Michele Mazzola.

Copyright 
Authors are allowed to retain both the copyright and the publishing rights of their articles without restrictions.  

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