Experimental-Numerical Evaluation of Crack Growth in FeB/Fe2B Layers on AISI 316L Steel under Spherical Indentation
Abstract
This work investigates crack evolution in AISI 316L steel borided by powder-pack process at 1223 K for 2 and 6 h. Microscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), and nanoindentation confirmed the formation of FeB/Fe2B composite layers whose hardness and Young's modulus increased with treatment time. Spherical indentation tests using a 3 mm indenter produced circular cracks in both systems, with more pronounced damage in the 6 h layer due to higher elastic energy storage and stress concentration within the coating. Finite element modeling in ANSYS, using the SMART Crack technique, accurately reproduced the indentation imprint geometry and the stress fields governing the mechanical response under spherical indentation, showing good agreement with the experimentally observed surface imprint. The findings demonstrate that the thicker and stiffer layer formed after 6 h promotes deeper crack propagation toward the Fe2B/substrate interface, whereas the thinner 2 h layer confines damage mainly within the FeB phase with no evidence of interfacial failure. These results provide relevant insights for the design and performance prediction of brittle composite layers subjected to concentrated loading.
Read the paper
Related studies
- The Matrisome: In Silico Definition and In Vivo Characterization by Proteomics of Normal and Tumor Extracellular Matrices
- The Escherichia coli MG1655 in silico metabolic genotype: Its definition, characteristics, and capabilities
- In silico pharmacology for drug discovery: methods for virtual ligand screening and profiling
- In silico prediction of splice-altering single nucleotide variants in the human genome
- In silico clinical trials: how computer simulation will transform the biomedical industry
- In silico optimization of a guava antimicrobial peptide enables combinatorial exploration for peptide design
Go deeper in Evidence Hub
Evidence Hub adds a study data sheet (design, sample size, evidence level, key numbers), an AI summary and a chat grounded in the paper's text.