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Metallurgical Analysis of Failed AISI 440C Hydraulic Amplifier Valve Spool for Launch Vehicle Actuators

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Abstract

Hydraulic amplifier valve (HAV) spools are made up of AISI 440C stainless steel and are used as flow control devices of actuators. Failure of three numbers of HAV spools observed near the undercut region is investigated in this paper. Microstructural analysis of the failed spools revealed the presence of large amount of primary and secondary carbides in the matrix of tempered martensite. Fractographic analysis of failed HAV spools revealed features typical of overload fracture. Corrosion pits of 300–350 µm depth are observed around the periphery of the fracture surface at a few locations of the failed HAV spools. Failure of the spools is found under the application of mechanical loads, where load-bearing capability of the spools is reduced due to stress concentration near the undercut region owing to the presence of corrosion pits. This was further assisted by large primary carbides present abundantly in this alloy.

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Acknowledgments

The Group Director, Materials and Metallurgy Group and the Deputy Director, Materials and Mechanical Entity are acknowledged by the authors for their support and encouragement during the completion of this study. The authors also give Dr. A Venugopal, MCTG credit for providing an optical profilometer to determine the depth of a pit.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Thiruvananthapuram, India

    K. Jalaja, Sushant K. Manwatkar & Rohit Kumar Gupta

  2. Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre, Valiamala, Thiruvananthapuram, India

    S. V. S. Narayana Murty

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  1. K. Jalaja
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  2. Sushant K. Manwatkar
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  3. Rohit Kumar Gupta
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  4. S. V. S. Narayana Murty
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Correspondence to K. Jalaja.

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Jalaja, K., Manwatkar, S.K., Gupta, R.K. et al. Metallurgical Analysis of Failed AISI 440C Hydraulic Amplifier Valve Spool for Launch Vehicle Actuators. J Fail. Anal. and Preven. 23, 728–738 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11668-023-01597-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11668-023-01597-9

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