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Comparison of Very High Cycle Fatigue Properties of 18CrNiMo7-6 Steel after Carburizing and Pseudo-carburizing

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Abstract

The very high cycle fatigue (VHCF) properties of case hardening steel 18CrNiMo7-6 after carburizing and pseudo-carburizing have been investigated by means of ultrasonic fatigue tests. Results showed that the pseudo-carburized specimens with the hardness of 442 HV did not show VHCF fracture, and fatigue fracture did not occur even after 109 cycles when the applied stress amplitude was lower than the high cycle fatigue limit of 650 MPa obtained at 107 cycles. When carburized thoroughly with the hardness of 700 HV, the experimental steel showed VHCF phenomenon, and it might fracture even at nearly 109 cycles when the stress amplitude was about 600 MPa. Observations of the fracture surfaces of the fatigue specimens showed that after carburizing, the fatigue crack initiation sites changed from martensite matrix to nonmetallic inclusions, forming granular bright facet (GBF) and fish-eye before final abrupt fracture. The stress intensity factor at GBF area, which was calculated to be 3.5 MPa m1/2, could be used as a critical value for VHCF fracture for the carburized specimens of the experimental steel. The VHCF fracture of the carburized specimens of the experimental steel could be related to the high hardness and large amount of retained austenite as a result of carburizing.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, 650093, Yunnan, China

    Peifeng Cheng & Li Li

  2. Institute of Special Steel, Central Iron and Steel Research Institute, Beijing, 100081, China

    Peifeng Cheng, Wenchao Yu, Shaopeng Yang, Jie Shi & Maoqiu Wang

  3. CN GPower Gearbox Co. Ltd., Chongqing, 402263, China

    Yunkun Li

  4. Technology Center, Ma’anshan Iron and Steel Co. Ltd., Ma’anshan, 243000, Anhui, China

    Shaopeng Yang & Fangzhong Hu

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  1. Peifeng Cheng
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Correspondence to Peifeng Cheng.

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Cheng, P., Li, Y., Yu, W. et al. Comparison of Very High Cycle Fatigue Properties of 18CrNiMo7-6 Steel after Carburizing and Pseudo-carburizing. J. of Materi Eng and Perform 29, 8340–8347 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11665-020-05257-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11665-020-05257-z

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