FATIGUE CRACK GROWTH IN HIGH STRENGTH STEEL

(42CRMO4) UNDER A CONTACT CYCLIC LOADING

1
Pandiyarajan.R,
2
rajeshkannan
Assit professor latha mathavan engg college
Assit professor sacs M.a.v.m.m engg college

Abstract
Contact fatigue is a type of failure commonly found in the surface of earings, gears etc., and this
type of failures decide the useful life of these structural parts. !he proposed "ork descries the
e#perimental determination of fatigue crack gro"th parameters for high strength lo"$alloy steel %2CrMo%.
!he e#periments can e performed ased on the A&!M '(%) standard to find the parameters *C and m+ of
the Paris e,uation. !est specimens have to e sujected to impulsive cyclic tensile loading on a testing
machine. -uring that the fatigue crack propagation has to e monitored as a function of elapsed fatigue
cycles. As this material is often used for different highly loaded machine parts, these parameters can e
useful for different fatigue crack gro"th calculations.
Key words : fatigue crack growth ,astm std E-647
INTRODUCTION:
!he .#ford 'nglish -ictionary defines a earing //as a part of a machine that allo"s
one part to rotate or move in contact "ith another part "ith as little friction as possile00.
Additional functions include the transmission of loads and enaling the accurate location of
components. A earing may have to sustain severe static as "ell as cyclic loads "hile serving
relialy in difficult environments.
Angular Contact thrust all earings are earings of large dimensions used in different
engineering applications *e. g. "ind turines, e#cavators, cranes, mining e,uipment, etc.+. !heir
function is to connect t"o structural parts, allo" relative rotation and transmission of loads
et"een them. -epending on their application different types are kno"n. -uring operation the
sle"ing earings are sujected to e#ternal loads *a#ial force, radial force and overturning
moment+ "hich cause rolling contact et"een the all and race "ay elements of the earing.
!his type of contact can lead to material contact fatigue "hich is recogni1ed as one of the main
failure mechanisms for machine elements sujected to contact loading *surface pitting+.
2n general, fatigue can e divided into t"o stages3
4atigue crack initiation and
4atigue crack propagation.
5igh$strength lo"$alloy *5&6A+ steels, or micro alloyed steels, are designed to provide
etter mechanical properties and7or greater resistance to atmospheric corrosion than
conventional caron steels in the normal sense ecause they are designed to meet specific
mechanical properties rather than a chemical composition.
!he 5&6A steels have lo" caron contents *8.89$8.29: C+ in order to produce ade,uate
formaility and "eld aility, and they have manganese contents up to 2.8:. &mall ,uantities of
chromium, nickel, molydenum, copper, nitrogen, vanadium, nioium, titanium and 1irconium are
used in various cominations
Contact fatigue cracks are surface or su$surface initiated. !he surface initiated cracks
occur as the result of surface roughness, different defects and notches on the surface "hich can
e the result of thermal treatment. .n the other hand su$surface cracks are initiated in the area
of largest contact stresses "hen high ,uality surface finish. 4atigue crack propagation under
contact loading due to the failure of the contact surfaces.
!his paper present the fatigue crack initiation and fatigue crack propagation calculations
it is essential to kno" the necessary material parameters. !his paper presents the results of the
fatigue crack gro"th rate measurements for the %2CrMo% steel *parameters of the Paris la" C
and m+. !his high strength lo"$alloy steel is mostly used for the angular contact thrust all
earing and other highly loaded machine parts.
T! M"##$! T!%s"&% S'!c"(!% )r!'arat"&% (ASTM E*+4,)
!he middle tension, M *!+, specimen is a center crack specimen that can e loaded in
either tension$tension or tension$compression.
!he M*!+ specimen has the advantage over many other specimen types in that it allo"s
for fatigue loading under oth positive and negative force ratios *R+.
2n the near threshold regime *elo" 18;< m7cycle+, one can e#perience difficulty in
meeting the crack symmetry re,uirements listed in this method "hen using the M*!+
specimen= the C*!+ or '&'*!+ specimens may e appropriate alternatives, provided that
R>8.
S'!c"(!% C&%-"./rat"&%0 S"1!0 a%# )r!'arat"&%
4or the M*!+ specimen, the thickness, B, and "idth ,W, may e varied independently
"ithin the follo"ing limits, "hich are ased on specimen uckling and through$thickness
crack$curvature considerations.
4or M*!+ specimens it is recommended that upper limit on thickness e "ithin the range
W7<?B?W7%. !he
minimum thickness necessary to avoid e#cessive lateral deflections or uckling is
sensitive to specimen gage length, grip alignment, and stress ratio, R. 2t is recommended
that strain gage information e otained for the particular specimen geometry and loading
condition of interest and that ending strains not e#ceed 9 : of the nominal strain.
2n the M*!+ specimen *4ig. A2.1+, a is measured from the perpendicular isector of the
central crack.
!he machined notch, 2an, in the M*!+ specimen shall e centered "ith respect to the
specimen centerline to
"ithin (8.881W. !he length of the machined notch in the M*!+ specimen "ill e
determined y practical machining considerations and is not restricted y limitations in the
K$caliration.
2t is recommended that 2an e at least 8.2W "hen using the compliance method to
monitor crack e#tension in the M*!+ specimen so that accurate crack si1e determinations
can e otained.
@otch and precracking details for the specimen are given in 4ig. 1 of the main ody of '
(%).
Secime! Si"eA2n order for results to e valid according to this test method it is re,uired
that the specimen e Predominantly elastic at all values of applied force. !he minimum
in$plane specimen si1es to meet this re,uirement are ased primarily on empirical results
and are specific to specimen configuration.
4or the M*!+ specimen the follo"ing is re,uired3
"here3
#W $ %a& B specimenCs un cracked ligament *4ig. 2+,
B B specimen thickness, and
D& B 8.2 : offset yield strength determined at the same temperature as used "hen
measuring
the fatigue crack gro"th rate data
ASTM Standard diagram
FI2TURES FOR M (T) S)ECIMENS:

Fig A 2.2 Fixtures For M (T) Specimens
4or tension$tension loading of specimens "ith W > )9 mm *E in.+ a clevis "ith multiple
olts is recommended *for e#ample, see Practice ' 9(1+. 2n this arrangement, the forces are
applied more uniformly= thus, the minimum specimen gage length *that is, the distance et"een
the innermost ro" of olt holes+ is rela#ed to 1.9W.
!he M*!+ specimen may also e gripped using a clamping device instead of the aove
arrangements. !his type of gripping is necessary for tension$compression loading. An e#ample of
a specific olt and key"ay design for clamping M*!+ specimens is given in 4ig. A2.2. 2n addition,
various hydraulic and mechanical$"edge systems "hich supply ade,uate clamping force are
commercially availale and may e used. !he minimum gage length re,uirement for clamped
specimens is rela#ed to 1.2W.
FATIGUE CRACK INITIATION:
4atigue crack initiation and gro"th depend on micro structural features, the ma#imum
fluctuating stress and environment. Conversely, plastics or polymers are composed of molecules
and are also important engineering materials= ho"ever, their fatigue mechanism is different from
metals.
NOTCH )RE)ARATION:
!he machined notch for standard specimens may e made y electrical$discharge
machining *'-M+, milling, roaching, or sa" cutting. !he follo"ing notch preparation procedures
are suggested to facilitate fatigue pre cracking in various materials3
'lectric -ischarge Machining ' ? 8.29 mm *8.818 in.+ * B notch root radius+,
high$ strength steels *
D&
F 11)9 MPa71)8 ksi+, titanium
and aluminum alloys.
Mill or Groach B r? 8.8)9 mm *8.88E in.+, lo" or medium$strength steels
*
D&
?11)9 MPa71)8 ksi+, aluminum alloys.
Hrind B ? 8.29 mm *8.818 in.+, lo" or medium strength steels.
Mill or Groach B ? 8.29 mm *8.818 in.+, aluminum alloys.
&a" cut B Recommended only for aluminum alloys.
'#amples of various machined$notch geometries and associated pre cracking re,uirements
Notch fatigue precracking fatigue crack growth
FATIGUE CRACK GROWTH:
4atigue is a form of failure caused y fluctuating or cyclic loads over a short or prolong
period of time. !herefore, fatigue is a time$dependent failure mechanism related to micro
structural features. !he fluctuating loading condition is not a continuous failure process as
opposed to cyclic loading. !he former is manifested in ridges, aircrafts and machine
components, "hile the latter re,uires a continuous constant or variale stress amplitude until
fracture occurs.
2t is also important for the reader to kno" that fatigue failure or fracture can occur at a
ma#imum stress elo" the static yield strength of a particular material. .viously, temperature
effects must e considered in fatigue failure Characteri1ation. 4rom engineering point of vie",
predicting fatigue life is major a re,uirement.
E2)ERIMENTAL SETU):
TEST METHOD
!his test method involves cyclic loading of notched specimens "hich have een
acceptaly pre cracked in fatigue. Crack si1e is measured, either visually or y an e,uivalent
method, as a function of elapsed fatigue cycles and these data are sujected to numerical
analysis to estalish the rate of crack gro"th. Crack gro"th rates are e#pressed as a function of
the stress$intensity factor range, -K, "hich is calculated from e#pressions ased on linear elastic
stress analysis.
4atigue crack gro"th rate e#pressed as a function of crack$tip stress$intensity factor
range, da7d( versus -K, characteri1es a materialCs resistance to stale crack e#tension under
cyclic loading. Gackground information on the ration$ale for employing linear elastic fracture
mechanics to analy1e fatigue crack gro"th rate data.
2n innocuous *inert+ environments fatigue crack gro"th rates are primarily a function of
-K and force ratio, R, or K
ma#
and R .!emperature and aggressive environments can significantly
affect da)d( versus -K, and in many cases accentuate R$effects and introduce effects of other
loading variales such as cycle fre,uency and "aveform. Attention needs to e given to the
proper selection and control of these variales in research studies and in the generation of
design data.
K, K
ma#
, and R are not independent of each other. &pecification of any t"o of these
variales is sufficient to define the loading condition. 2t is customary to specify one of the stress$
intensity parameters * K or K
ma#
+ along "ith the force ratio, R.
RESULT AND DISCUSSION
E3'!r"(!%ta$ R!s/$t:
experimental relationship a N for fatigue crack growth! log(da"dN)log(IK) diagram (#$ %&c)
FATIIGUE LIFE CALCULATION:
)ar"s4 $a5 *also kno"n as the )ar"s*Er#&.a% $a5+ relates the stress intensity factor
range to su$critical crack gro"th under a fatigue stress regime. As such, it is the most popular
fatigue crack growth mode* used in materials science and fracture mechanics.
Jhere a is the crack length and ( is the numer of load cycles. !hus, the term on the left
side, kno"n as the crack growth rate, the infinitesimal crack length gro"th per increasing numer
of load cycles. .n the right hand side, C and m are material constants, and is the range of
the stress intensity factor, i.e., the difference et"een the stress intensity factor at ma#imum and
minimum loading
Jhere K
ma#
is the ma#imum stress intensity factor and K
min
is the minimum stress intensity factor.
ParisL la" can e used to ,uantify the residual life *in terms of load cycles+ of a specimen
given a particular crack si1e
!he range of cyclic stress amplitude. + takes the value 1 for a center crack in an infinite
sheet. !he remaining cycles can e found y sustituting this e,uation in the Paris la"
.
4or relatively short cracks, + can e assumed as independent of a and the differential e,uation
can e solved via separation of variales and suse,uent integration
'here N
f
is the remaining num(er of c)cles to fracture* a
c
is the critical crack length at which
instantaneous fracture will occur* and a
i
is the initial crack length at which fatigue crack growth
starts for the gi+en stress range . ,f Y strongl) depends on a* numerical methods might (e
re-uired to find reasona(le solutions. For the application to adhesi+e .oints in composites* it is
more useful to express the /aris 0aw in terms of fracture energ) rather than stress intensit) factors
CONCLUSION:
!his paper presents the e#perimental procedure for determination of the fatigue crack
gro"th rates in lo"$alloy steel %2CrMo% and its results. Jith this procedure the parameters of the
Paris e,uation C and m "ere e#perimentally determined for %2CrMo% steel at 9% 5Rc. As this
material is often used for different highly loaded machine parts *angular contact earings, gears,
etc.+, this parameters can e useful for different fatigue crack gro"th calculation and simulations.
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