Plasticity and fracture modeling of quench-hardenable boron steel with tailored properties

•Hardness-based deformation and fracture model for quench-hardenable 22MnB5.•Strain hardening and fracture characterization of three distinct hardness grades.•Simulation model based on piecewise linear interpolation of characterized grades.•Model validation on specimens featuring different hardness transition zones.

In this article, a constitutive model for quench-hardenable boron steel is presented. Three sets of boron steel blanks are heat treated such that their as-treated microstructures are close to fully martensitic, bainitic and ferritic/pearlitic, respectively. Hardness measurements show that the resulting blanks cover the full scope of possible hardness values, from 165 HV in the ferritic/pearlitic range to 477 HV in the fully hardened state. These three main grades provide the input data for a constitutive model consisting of an extended Swift hardening law and a stress triaxiality and Lode angle dependent fracture criterion. The hardening behavior of each grade is determined using standard tensile tests at quasi-static strain rates. The strain-based fracture criterion is calibrated using four different flat fracture samples. The behavior of intermediate hardness grades is approximated by piecewise linear combination of the three calibrated constitutive models. A newly developed tapered tensile test specimen featuring a hardness transition zone in the gauge section is used to verify the model at hand. A four point bending test of a top hat section of intermediate hardness is used to verify the model for complex loading conditions.