Abstract
Any manufacturing equipment designed from scratch requires a detailed follow-up of the performance for the first units placed in service during the production ramp-up, so that lessons learned are immediately implemented in next deliveries and running equipment is accordingly updated. Component failure analysis is one of the most valuable sources of improvement among these lessons. In this context, a failure-assessment based design revision of the conveying system of a newly developed press hardening furnace is presented. The proposed method starts with a forensic metallurgical analysis of the failed components, followed by an investigation of the working conditions to ensure they match the forensic observations. The results of this approach evidenced an initially unforeseen thermo-mechanical damage produced by a combination of thermal distortions, material ageing, and mechanical fatigue. Once the cause–effect relationship for the failure is backed up by evidence, an improved design is proposed. As a conclusion, a new standard design for the furnace entrance set of rollers in hot stamping lines was established for roller hearth furnaces. The solution can be extended to similar applications, ensuring the same issues will not arise thanks to the lessons learned.
Highlights
Press hardening is a fast-growing technology, mainly exploited for the safety and weight improvements that it introduces in the automotive industry [1,2,3]
Roller hearth furnaces carry the steel sheet blanks through the furnace by means of ceramic rollers that stand the nominal working temperatures required for press hardening furnaces, which range from 890 ◦ C to 950 ◦ C
As the novel roller beam sheet metal format conveying system was designed from scratch, close follow-up of the furnaces deployed first is a must to ensure a quick maturation of from scratch, close follow-up of the furnaces deployed first is a must to ensure a quick maturation of the equipment
Summary
Press hardening is a fast-growing technology, mainly exploited for the safety and weight improvements that it introduces in the automotive industry [1,2,3]. As the novel roller beam sheet metal format conveying system was designed from scratch, close follow-up of the furnaces deployed first is a must to ensure a quick maturation of from scratch, close follow-up of the furnaces deployed first is a must to ensure a quick maturation of the equipment. During this sort of follow-up, component failure analysis has proven to be a source the equipment. After an operating elements transmitting movement from the drives to the beams that convey the blanks inside the time of 1800 h at a nominal temperature of 930 ◦ C, a roller from the front section of the furnace
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