Period of Fine Granular Area Formation of Bearing Steel in Very High Cycle Fatigue Regime

Abstract

In order to examine the period of fine granular area (FGA) formation of bearing steel in very high cycle fatigue regime, rotating bending fatigue tests were carried out at the stress amplitude 1100 MPa below the fatigue limit. The tests were interrupted at the cumulative damage values ranging from 0.1 to 0.5 with an increment of 0.1 to charge hydrogen to the specimens. After the charge, the rotating bending tests were continuously carried out. The crack origin areas on all fracture surfaces were checked by a scanning electron microscope (SEM), and it was discovered that FGA was not formed in some of them. From a view point of fracture mechanics, the stress intensity factor ranges of FGA areas, ΔKFGA, were calculated by using Murakamis area model. The ΔKFGA values increase with the increase of the cumulative damage values. Furthermore, ΔKFGA values in this study were smaller than 5 MPam which was obtained from usual fatigue testing. Therefore, we conclude that the stable crack growth stage starts when the threshold stress intensity factor range decreases due to hydrogen embrittlement in the middle of formation of FGA.