Bar Applications Group Issues Fifth Update of Online Database

DETROIT, May 5 /PRNewswire/ -- The Bar Applications Group (BAG) of the Steel Market Development Institute (SMDI) announced the release of its fifth update of the online Bar Steel Fatigue Database today, making more than 110 steel grade and process iterations available to project team members and design engineers in the ground vehicle industry.

"The Fatigue Database provides core information that better predicts the design capability of improved parts," David Anderson, director of Long Products for SMDI, said. "Database users, working in tandem with steel and ground vehicle strategic partners, can reduce design cycle time and optimize component part design by selecting the best steel grade and process in less time at reduced costs."

In cooperation with the automotive industry, SMDI developed the Bar Steel Database for the ground vehicle and original equipment industries. The database includes fatigue data, as well as a compilation of associated steel processing, mechanical property and microstructure information.  

The Bar Steel Fatigue Database provides data in easy-to-read tables of monotonic and cyclical stress-strain curves, elastic and plastic strain-amplitude curves and offers a complete source of steel bar technical information.

"The database was launched in 2003 with 21 steel grade and process combinations or iterations, which were expanded to 43 in 2004," Anderson said. "This update brings the number of iterations to more than 110, with the plan to raise the total to more than 150."  

Future information in the database will include:

• Effect of variation in composition within SAE limits on fatigue properties;
• Residual stress measurements;
• Effect of varying hardness due to change in microstructure on fatigue properties;
• Comparison of fatigue properties of as-rolled and forged microalloyed steels;
• The effects of random overloads on fatigue behavior; and
• Continued comparisons of the fatigue properties of atmosphere carburized and vacuum carburized steels.

"We have been examining torsion fatigue and mathematically correlating axial-to-torsional results, which will further improve the fatigue knowledge base. We have also been looking at case core samples, such as carburized case-hardened shafts and gears," Anderson said.

The Steel Market Development Institute (SMDI), a business unit of the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI), grows and maintains the use of steel through strategies that promote cost-effective solutions in the automotive, construction and container markets, as well as for new-growth opportunities in non-traditional steel markets. The Long Products Market Development Group is a part of the SMDI and focuses on advancing the use of steel in the highly competitive automotive market. For more news or information, visit www.autosteel.org.

SMDI Long Products Group investors:

• Gerdau Ameristeel
• Gerdau MACSTEEL
• Nucor Corporation
• The Timken Company

SOURCE American Iron and Steel Institute