Quality protection of technical products – Unique identification with a hidden fingerprint in smart materials

Abstract

To ensure that technical products are traceable, they must be clearly identifiable. A novel concept for rendering components made of metastable austenitic stainless steel traceable and thus counterfeit-proof is presented. The characteristic deformation-induced phase transformation of this material group and the associated changes in permeability are utilized for this purpose. This material behavior allows to create hidden component inherent patterns with varying permeability. The possibility to manufacture these “hidden fingerprints” in the workpiece subsurface by machine hammer peening is discussed.

Keywords

• Quality protection
• Smart materials
• Non-destructive testing
• Machine hammer peening
• Surface integrity
• Metastable austenitic steel