ToughSteel partners from Eurecat, UNESID and UNE have been part of an edition of the series of lectures steelTalks, aimed at pointing out the importance of implementing new fracture mechanics-based criteria to understand the cracking behaviour and in-service performance of high-strength sheet materials. The event was organised by the steeluniversity, the learning and training programme of the World Steel Association (WSA), and UNESID on January 18th, 2023.
The lecture was kicked off by Scott Chubbs, Deputy Director General at the WSA, who welcomed the speakers and attendees and presented the topics to be presented in the lecture.
After a brief introduction on behalf of Santiago Oliver, Sustainability, Energy, and Innovation Director at the Spanish Steelmaking Association (UNESID), Daniel Casellas, Scientific Director at Eurecat, explained why new fracture criteria for Advanced High-Strength Steels (AHSS) is needed. He also discussed how can fracture toughness be used to understand and solve crack-related problems in sheet metal forming.
Advanced high-strength steels (AHSS) are fundamental for the lightweight design of structural components in sectors like the automotive industry thanks to their excellent combination of strength and ductility. However, they have also introduced new challenges related to their higher cracking susceptibility during cold forming or under impact loading.
David Frómeta, Researcher of the Metallic and Ceramic Materials Unit from Eurecat, continued by talking about the ToughSteel project and presented novel methodologies and successful industrial application cases of a novel fracture toughness approach based on the Essential Work of Fracture (EWF).
The third and last presentation was delivered by Javier López-Quiles, Project Manager at the Spanish Association for Standardisation (UNE). He gave insights into the current state and the next steps in the standardisation of the new fracture toughness testing methodologies for high-strength ductile metal sheets, a work carried out under the framework of the ToughSteel and Formplanet project.
Retrieve the video recording of this lecture by enroling at the course in the steeluniversity website.
