Bending in a V-die has been used to indicate the outcome of bending in cold roll forming, although little direct correlation has been performed. In this work direct comparison of the springback in both processes was performed using six samples of automotive steels in a conventional roll forming line where the transverse springback is measured. A bend of similar radius was formed in a V-die and the springback determined. In general, the springback in V-die forming was greater than in roll forming, in some cases by a factor of 2. The theoretical springback angle was determined for all steels using a simple and approximate analytical equation and compared to the experimental roll forming and bending results. While for the roll forming process good agreement was achieved the theoretical values significantly underestimated springback in the V-bending process.

Advanced High Strength Steel (AHSS) developments have largely focused on automotive applications using metallurgical approaches to develop retained austenite-containing microstructures in a variety of new steels, using the transformation-induced plasticity (TRIP) effect to achieve better combinations of strength and ductility. These efforts have been extended in recent studies to explore the potential to improve wear resistance, using metastable retained austenite to enhance wear resistance for earth-moving and other applications. This paper provides selected highlights of the authors’ efforts to develop wear resistant steels using AHSS processing approaches. Some attractive product/process development opportunities are identified, and it appears that martensite-austenite microstructures produced using “quenching and partitioning” exhibit increased wear resistance.

In the world of drilling, the drill bit dull condition contains our best forensic evidence of the drilling assembly's interaction with the formation. Dull grading forensics is the first place to look to identify drilling dysfunction yet commonly overlooked or misunderstood by operators. The drill bit dull condition can be leveraged to learn about the formation, drilling dynamics and drilling practices (Watson et. al. 2022). The IADC bit dull grading classification system received its most recent revision in 1992 and currently consists of an average inner and outer dull grade severity, rated from 0 – 8 with a major and other dull characteristic along with a reason pulled. These grades can be used to make critical operational and bit design decisions to overcome drilling challenges thereby improving performance and allowing drilling teams to drill consistently further and faster. The oil and gas industry is becoming more reliant on digitally enabled applications to improve performance through big data, machine learning and automation, but at the time of this paper, the critical IADC dull grading system has remained the same. It is still a crude and subjective characterization of the complex drill bit dull condition. A key challenge with the current classification system and industry standard grading technique is that it is highly dependent on the person grading the bit. Personal subjectivity and lack of training can result in key forensic evidence being overlooked that otherwise could have aided in understanding the root cause of drilling dysfunction. A cross disciplinary committee of subject matter experts (SME's) from operators, drill bit providers, cutter manufacturers, and digital solution providers have convened to define and introduce a new standard dull grading system as replacement for the current outdated IADC dull grading. The new dull grading system will allow for an objective cutter-by-cutter dull grading to be stored with relevant drilling data with reduced subjectivity and enhanced accuracy. With recent advancements in mobile phone hardware and applications, a solution was developed that delivers high quality, cutter-by-cutter dull grading automatically and connecting with drilling meta data from a drilling records database containing over 1.8 million well records with over 5 million bottom-hole assembly (BHA) runs. It leverages videos with machine learning combined with an algorithm to deliver cutter specific, major dull characteristics of a scanned bit. This high quality photographic digital dull information is incorporated into workflows allowing for rapid improvement in cutting structure and cutter development lifecycle timelines leading to rapid improvements in drilling performance for operators.

One mode that limits the usefulness of hot forging die steels is localized plastic deformation in regions of high pressure. To understand this behavior the yield strength of the steel needs to be measured at working temperatures in order to determine the likelihood of localized plasticity. One of the issues in using die steels for hot forging applications is that they are initially tempered to a hardness value when put into service. As the die is used to produce forged components, the contact with the hot forging causes the die to continue to temper and hence soften with continued used. To explore these issues three different die steels were obtained and tested experimentally. Experimental compressive yield strengths were determined for the three die steels (FX, 2714 and WF). The die steels were tempered to various hardness values prior to compression testing. The five room-temperature hardness values after tempering ranged from 20 to 38 HRC. The five temperatures for compression testing ranged from 593 to 704 °C (1100 to 1300 oF). From these tests a good characterization of the high temperature plastic behavior of each steel was obtained. It was found that the WF steel which had the highest alloy content was the strongest of the three steels under all test conditions. The FX and 2714, which had similar alloy contents (with FX having slightly less carbon, nickel and vanadium), had yield strengths that were close to each other at the intermediate temperatures, but at the high and low end of the testing range for temperature the FX was stronger than the 2714. Hence, to obtain the greatest resistance to localized plastic deformation during operations the choice of die steel should be WF, followed by FX and then 2714.