A client had a 15% scrap rate when bending 0.75-inch diameter steel tubing to form components. The tubing was splitting. The problem had been going on for over a year. Some lots of incoming tubing had no problems and other lots had problems. The cost was about $16,000 per month. The client had samples analyzed for alloy composition and mechanical properties. The samples met the client’s specifications.
We performed a complete metallurgical failure analysis of split and good samples. We found that samples with alloy composition at the high end of the client’s specification led to the problem. Higher amounts of carbon enabled metallurgical changes in the steel that resulted in reduced bending properties. We helped revise the tubing specification, reducing the maximum amount of carbon allowed in the steel.
The problem was permanently fixed. Another benefit was reduction of the work-in-process of the tubing component. An extra supply of the component was needed to supply downstream processes when the problem arose.
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Michael Pfeifer, Ph.D., P.E. is President of Industrial Metallurgists and a metallurgical engineering consultant with more than 30 years of experience in product design, manufacturing, failure analysis, and metallurgy training. He helps clients worldwide solve design and manufacturing problems and is the author of Materials Enabled Designs.
