OCAS organised the “Abrasion resistant steels: modelling and experimental challenges” wear seminar at OCAS on Friday June 15th 2018 in its labs at Zwijnaarde (Belgium), attracting 50+ participants representing 10 countries.
The abrasion resistance of a material is not solely determined by the ratio of its hardness as compared to the hardness of the abrasive medium. Systematic screening indicates that material’s wear failure varies significantly when exposed to the same particles abrading in different modes. On the other hand, this failure is also affected by the surface state and the material’s microstructural features underneath the contact zone. Capturing these effects using conventional design criteria aiming for the defined scope, is a challenging task.
Multiscale modelling and experimental approaches are suitable tools to deal with the problem more rapidly and at significantly lower operational cost. These models are changing today’s engineering practice.
Focus on multiscale approaches applied for material optimisation
The Integrated Material Modelling for Abrasion Resistant Steels (IMMARS) project aims at providing a methodological approach for a complete study of abrasion resistance in steels. It combines multiscale modelling methods and structural integrity methods. Furthermore, it covers all the steps of the processing-structure-properties-performance method (PSPP) where the performance is evaluated at the real scale of the component.
Bringing together academic research and industrial experience
This seminar aimed at introducing enhanced numerical and experimental solutions relied upon to link the material’s microstructure, its surface state and its actual abrasive environment. The following presentations were given by experts in the field:
- Keynote presentation “Atomistic simulation in tribology: potentials, perspectives and limitations”, by Daniele SAVIO, Fraunhofer IWM, Microtribology Center µTC (Germany)
- “Materials, service life and wear mechanisms in agricultural tools”, by Jacob SUKUMARAN, UGent (Belgium)
- “Modelling of macroscopic loads on agricultural tools with the Discrete Element Method” ”, by Florian SCHRAMM, TU-Braunschweig (Germany)
- “Micromechanical modelling in design of wear resistant microstructures, by Anssi LAUKKANEN, VTT (Finland)
- “Macro-damage mechanical modelling of abrasion in agricultural tools”, by Peerapon WECHSUWANMANEE, RWTH Aachen (Germany)
- “Developing next generations wear resistant steels”, Lieven BRACKE, ArcelorMittal Global R&D Gent, OCAS NV (Belgium)
The seminar attracted 50+ participants representing 10 countries, all giving positive feedback. Both presentations, as well as the many and fruitful discussions during lunch and breaks, were highly appreciated.
Enjoy some pictures taken during the event (click picture to navigate)
“The IMMARS project succeeded in combining several advanced methods around the same abrasion issue and implement a virtual solution for a real industrial case. By bringing together researchers and industrial experts in this field, interesting exchanges took place leading to new perspectives for research in the future.”
