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50's steel used for forged auto part?

50's steel used for forged auto part?

50's steel used for forged auto part?

(OP)
Can anyone suggest the variety of steel types that might have been used by Volkswagen and Porsche (1955-1960) in the manufacture of forged front suspension trailing arms? I'm curious to know if there are several or only a few possibilities.

I realize that I could sacrafice a part and have an analysis done to get a better approximation. But that might not be necessary if someone knows this or a source for an answer.

R. Reinking

RE: 50's steel used for forged auto part?

.
A spectrometer test is non-destructive for a part your size.  You could also do a spark test comparison to known metals if you have enough meat to spare, so to speak.

_______________________________________
Feeling frisky.........
www.tailofthedragon.com

RE: 50's steel used for forged auto part?

I can't be certain, but I think it is very likely that the steel used for forgings would have been a carbon steel, carbon concentration (in mass percent) of approximately 0.2 to 0.5, manganese 0.5 to 1.0, and maybe silicon or aluminium of 0.2 to 0.3.

Regards,

Cory

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RE: 50's steel used for forged auto part?

You can get a fairly good idea with a simple hardness test.  Below 80 HRB, you are probably dealing with a low carbon plain-carbon steel (<0.15%C).  Up to 20 HRC or so, probably medium carbon plain-carbon (.4-.5%C), perhaps normalized.  Above 25, you are probably dealing with a heat treated low alloy steel.  A lot of the automotive suspension parts (particularly back then) were either cold-formed or warm-formed (meaning low carbon, low strength) with increased section size making up for reduced strength.  Weight wasn't a concern and steel was cheaper than heat treatment.

rp

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