Workshop on fracture toughness includes presentation on COOPHS project

COOPHS was presented during a workshop on fracture toughness in advanced high-strength steels held at the Spanish National Center for Metallurgical Research – CENIM facilities in Madrid, on 24^th January 2025.

Eurecat’s Head of Mechanical Behaviour, David Frómeta, introduced COOPHS together with other research projects coordinated by Eurecat using fracture toughness as a material parameter for validating the performance of novel advanced high-performance and sustainable steels being developed.

In the COOPHS project, a rapid fracture toughness test developed and patented by Eurecat will be used to assess the mechanical performance of low CO₂ steel production for the automotive sector through the development of more sustainable processing methodologies. The test, based on the Essential Work of Fracture (EWF) methodology, provides a simplified solution for measuring the fracture toughness of thin metal sheets, offering significant advantages in material characterisation.

Other projects presented also incorporating the rapid fracture toughness tests in their activities include:

• CISMA: Introducing scrap-based Electric Arc Furnace steel for a greener circular economy in mass-market sheet metal goods.
• H2FORM3G: Exploring the impact of hydrogen on the formability of 3^rd generation of Advanced High-Strength Steels (AHSS) for future lightweight vehicles and developing tools to mitigate the risk of cracking and delayed fracture.
• Sup3rForm: Optimizing 3^rd generation Quenching and Partitioning (Q&P) and medium-manganese steels to attain improved in-use properties and foster their widespread deployment in the automotive industry.

Eurecat, the entity coordinating COOPHS, is specialised in the characterisation of metallic materials for optimising industrial processes and designing components and applies standout methodologies that deliver significant advantages to industry.

With large expertise in areas such as fracture mechanics, lightweight applications based on advanced high strength steels (AHSS) and press, tribology, corrosion and degradation, micromechanical characterization and optimization of sheet forming processes, Eurecat takes responsibility of the COOPHS microstructural characterisation (EBSD analysis), phase transformation kinetics studies and mechanical tests. Moreover, the centre is also responsible for managing IPR and the project’s communication and dissemination activities.