Fatigue Strength of Tool Steels T1, M2 and M42 Subjected to High Compressive-Low Tensile Stress Cycling

Abstract

In a companion paper [1], the fatigue strength of tool steels and cemented tungsten carbides subjected to all compressive stress cycling is shown to be extremely high. In many design applications it is not possible to prevent small cyclic tensile stresses even though the major component of cyclic stress is compressive. From the previous results and from a survey of the literature, it was clear that the fatigue strength of hard carbides and tool steels would be markedly affected by a small cyclic tensile component of stress. There is some published work upon tool steels tested in rotating, bending, or reversed torsion, but the information available is of little use to the designer of high pressure equipment.