Failures Induced by Abnormal Banding in Steels

In industrial applications failures of mechanical parts made of carbon and alloyed steels may develop either during heat treatment steps or final finishing operations. Such failures have high impact costs for manufacturers, since heat treated steel products, in general, are high value products which increase in value with each step in the production process until the final life-cycle manufacturing steps are completed. This work highlights the selection of steels to avoid premature ruptures developing during either the heat treatment steps or finishing operations with emphasis on the role of banding in the failure process. Failure does not have to involve fracture but may simply imply a decrease in performance of surface treated components as consequence of surface properties, even in the presence of correct heat treatment parameters. The root causes for banding in steels, are described in literature, and banding has major effects on final product properties (and causal relationships). Therefore, the causes of banding are studied and classified. Conclusions suggest that microstructural defects such as (micro)segregation bands and other defects such as slag and oxides inclusions are developed in the early fabricating cycle steps and can cause premature failure of either semi-finished or finished products.