Peculiarities of Fatigue Fracture of Steel Hardened by Various Surface Treatments

Abstract

Fatigue strength is one of the most important mechanical properties. Durability and reliability of car parts is often defined by their fatigue strength, since most of them are loaded with dynamic, repeating or variable loads and the main type of failure is metal fatigue. Fatigue crack usually starts on the metal surface. The interrelationship of the surface layer together with the characteristics of internal metal volume determine the value of fatigue limit and the coefficient level of stresses’ intensity, which is required for the start of fatigue crack. Various hardening methods of surface have a huge impact on fatigue strength of structural materials. The choice of surface processing method is determined by properties and microstructure of a material, as well as the purpose and working conditions of part’s material. Very often the optimum processing is a combination of several methods, which enables to obtain the required properties (high fatigue strength, wear, etc.). Hardening with high-frequency electric current (HfEC) is widely used process for the surface hardening of steel. The components are heated by means of an alternating magnetic field to a temperature within or above the transformation range followed by immediate quenching. The core of the component remains unaffected by the treatment and its physical properties are those of the bar from which it was machined. Investigation of specific fatigue fracture properties enables to determine the kinetic of processes, related with fatigue crack initiation and propagation. Analysing fractures of machine parts and comparing them with the most specific “mode” fractures it is possible to determine the nature of affecting loads and the reason of part failure. The impact of several combined surfaces processing on the fatigue strength and fractures of carbon steel samples is investigated in the work. The surface was hardened using different processing combinations: by hardening with high frequency electricity currents, rolling by rollers, heating and cooling under different temperatures. Experimentally it was proved that thermal treatment of plastically deformed carbon steel significantly increases fatigue strength. After surface hardening with the given regimes, the microstructure and residual stresses are formed in such way that fatigue crack begins to grow under the hardened sample surface. Samples, in which the fatigue crack initiates inside the sample, have higher fatigue strength than the samples, the fatigue crack of which initiates on the surface.