Abstract
The failure investigation of a pallet hook used for lifting is the subject of the present study to determine the root cause of failure. Metallurgical and mechanical investigation revealed that the fractured mode was brittle, and the banded microstructure had resulted in anisotropic properties and reduced ductility. Although no material specification was provided for the fractured hook, the chemical composition was found to be consistent with grade 4140. Grade 4140 is a high tensile steel that can be suitably heat treated to obtain desirable mechanical properties, including high fatigue strength, abrasion and impact resistance and toughness. It is considered that material grade 4140 would have been a suitable material for this application if heat treatment had been conducted properly to obtain required mechanical properties. Finite element analysis was employed to examine the stress distribution at three different loads (2.2, 3.6, and 6.6 T) near the fractured locations. It was concluded that the fractured pallet hook should have withstood the load beyond the safe working limit (i.e., 2.2 T) but it seems that improper heat treatment, formation of banded microstructure during manufacturing and segregation of impurities between ferrite/pearlite bands resulted in anisotropic properties and extreme brittleness.
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The authors would like to acknowledge SRG Global Asset Care for supporting this research.
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Lashgari, H.R., Mehrjoo, M. & Zangeneh, S. Failure Analysis of a Fractured Pallet Hook. J Fail. Anal. and Preven. 23, 1369–1380 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11668-023-01687-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11668-023-01687-8