Cracking diagnostics of brake pedals during press forming operations

In this work a study of the cracking problems arising in manufacturing of steel brake pedals by press forming is presented. Cracks were detected in critical zones of the part revealing a possible lack of ductility in the constitutive material. In order to overcome this problem, a detailed study of the behaviour of the steel used has been carried out. In this way, mechanical characterization as well as microstructural analysis were performed over both cracked and uncracked pedals. The results obtained from this comparative analysis showed different microstructural features and, consequently, the dissimilar mechanical behaviour can be justified.