Faberware Millennium cookware hydrogen cracking

Tom's full forensic walkthrough of the case. Farberware came to him through the MIT Industrial Liaison Program after Millennium Cookware pots shipped to Japan developed cracks running parallel to the drawing axis during the voyage. Tom used a magnet to demonstrate that 301 stainless deep-drawing had transformed the FCC austenite to BCC martensite (TRIP behavior), creating the cathode for hydrogen embrittlement. Source of hydrogen identified as the argon-5% hydrogen atmosphere used to spray-deposit the stainless steel powder substrate for the Teflon coating. Tom uses the case to teach: (1) that 70% of metallurgists conflate stress corrosion cracking with hydrogen embrittlement, (2) that the distinction is anode (SCC) vs. cathode (HE), and (3) that delayed cracking with stainless on a bench is the diagnostic giveaway for hydrogen.

Let's talk about plain old deep drawing. [Tom produces a set of progressively drawn cups.] Here's my set of deep draws, where you go from a round circular blank and you do the first draw, the second draw, third draw, fourth draw. These have all been cut off the end. Backofen's dead, I can't find out where those came from. Farberware is the company — they came to me 15 years ago through the MIT Industrial Liaison Program. They said, "We make these very expensive pots called Millennium Cookware, and we've shipped them to Japan, and lo and behold, when they get to Japan they're cracked."