Applied Failure Analysis

Service Training Meeting Guide 006 SESV8006

August 2000

TECHNICAL PRESENTATION

APPLIED FAILURE ANALYSIS

CRANKSHAFTS
CRANKSHAFT FAILURE ANALYSIS
MEETING GUIDE SLIDES AND SCRIPT
AUDIENCE
Service, service support and administrative staff personnel who understand the principles of engine and
machine operation, and who are or may be involved in determining root causes of failures of engine
crankshafts.

CONTENT
This presentation describes function, materials, manufacturing, operation, normal appearance and some
root causes of failures of crankshafts.

OBJECTIVES
After learning the information in this presentation, the student will be able to:

1. describe functions of engine crankshafts;

2. describe in general terms how Caterpillar crankshafts are manufactured;
3. describe the three principle types of loading that crankshafts experience during engine operation;
4. identify road signs of abrasive wear, adhesive wear, bending fatigue fracture, reverse bending
fatigue fracture and torsional fatigue fracture on crankshafts and list some possible root causes;
5. identify crankshaft stress raisers including overload, inclusions and hydrogen flakes;
6. identify crankshaft processing problems including forging burns, quench cracks, grinding cracks and
straightening cracks.

REFERENCES
Crankshafts Applied Failure Analysis Reference Book SEBV0548
Crankshaft Applied Failure Analysis Self-Paced Instruction CD-ROM SEGV8006

PREREQUISITES
AFA STMG 013 Failure Analysis Management SERV8013
AFA STMG 017 Basic Metallurgy SERV8017
AFA STMG 014 Principles of Fractures SERV8014
AFA STMG 015 Principles of Wear SERV8015
Estimated Time: 3 Hours
Visuals: 69 electronic images
Student Handout: 1 - Lab Worksheet
Form: SESV8006
Date: 8/2000

© 2000 Caterpillar Inc.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................5

NOMENCLATURE................................................................................................................8

FUNCTIONS ..........................................................................................................................9

MANUFACTURING AND ASSEMBLY ............................................................................15

CRANKSHAFT LOADING.................................................................................................21

FAILURE ANALYSIS PROCESS .......................................................................................26

ABRASIVE WEAR..............................................................................................................37

ADHESIVE WEAR..............................................................................................................38

FRACTURES .......................................................................................................................39
Bending Fatigue Fracture................................................................................................41
Reverse Bending Fatigue Fracture..................................................................................44
Torsional Fatigue Fracture ..............................................................................................45

CRANKSHAFT STRESS RAISERS ...................................................................................47

Overload..........................................................................................................................48
Inclusions ........................................................................................................................51
Hydrogen Flakes .............................................................................................................56

PROCESSING ERRORS .....................................................................................................57

Forging Burns .................................................................................................................58
Straightening Cracks .......................................................................................................60
Quench Cracks / Grinding Cracks ..................................................................................61

RECONDITIONED CRANKSHAFTS ................................................................................64

CONCLUSION.....................................................................................................................73

SLIDE LIST..........................................................................................................................74

STUDENT HANDOUT........................................................................................................75
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INSTRUCTOR NOTES
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• Failure Analysis of INTRODUCTION

Crankshafts
The crankshaft failure analysis module explains how to apply failure
analysis principles when examining worn and fractured crankshafts.
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• Crankshaft Topics that will be covered in the crankshaft failure analysis module
include some facts about how a crankshaft functions, crankshaft
- Function
materials, and manufacturing processes used to produce crankshafts. This
- Materials is followed by a review of crankshaft operation and the normal
appearance of used crankshafts. The final section in this module covers
- Manufacturing crankshaft failure analysis using the Eight Step method along with the
proper visual examination procedure to discover road signs that lead to
- Operation
the root cause of failure.
- Normal appearance

- Failure analysis
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Diagnosing crankshaft failures is simplified by the fact that there are very
few ways for a crankshaft to wear or break.
• Crankshaft wear
failures
Most crankshaft wear failures are adhesive or abrasive caused by lube
- Adhesive system or bearing problems.
- Abrasive
Most crankshaft fracture failures are bending or torsional fatigue due to
• Crankshaft fracture overloading, remanufacturing, material or processing.
failures

- Bending fatigue
- Torsional fatigue
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• Key crankshaft NOMENCLATURE

nomenclature
This illustration shows features found on many crankshafts. Crankshafts
- Rod journals
are heat treated forgings consisting of rod and main journals held together
- Main journals by webs or counterweights. Each journal blends through a fillet into the
sidewall. One main journal has specially ground sidewalls called thrust
- Webs faces. Rod journals contain lightening holes reducing the weight of steel
(counterweights) orbiting around the main journals. The main and rod journals contain
drilled oil passages that provide an oil path from the block to the main and
- Fillets
rod bearings. Some crankshafts have flanges on the front and rear to
provide oil sealing surfaces, or to hold gears, dampers, and flywheels.
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FUNCTIONS

• Crankshaft functions Crankshafts perform six functions:

1. Convert motion
1) Change reciprocating (up and down) motion into rotary motion

2. Carry heavy loads 2) Carry heavy bending, torsional, and thrust loads

3. Deliver oil 3) Deliver pressurized oil to main and rod bearings

4. Provide wear
4) Provide hard wear resistant surfaces for main and rod bearings
resistant surfaces

5. Deliver power 5) Deliver power to gear trains and flywheels

6. Provide sealing 6) Provide sealing surface for front and rear main oil seals.
surfaces
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• Crankshafts convert Crankshaft rod journals are offset from the main journal centerline so that
reciprocating to as pistons and rods move up and down, the rod journal moves in a circular
rotarty motion
motion. This effectively converts the linear motion of the piston into the
rotational motion of the crankshaft.
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• Crankshafts carry In the process of converting reciprocating to rotational motion, the

heavy loads crankshaft is subjected to tremendous bending forces in the rod and main
journal fillets, twisting (torsional) forces on the rod and main journal
surfaces, and thrust (axial) forces on the thrust journal sidewalls. Piston
combustion gas loads are transferred to the rod journals in some cases
producing fillet bending loads exceeding 689 Mpa (100,000 psi). Gear
and flywheel loads, as well as loads from pistons being in various
portions of the power cycle, produce torsional and thrust loads strong
enough to break crankshafts through thick rod and main journals if
problems occur.
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• Crankshafs deliver To carry these extreme loads, crankshafts are supported in blocks with
pressurized oil to half shell bearings. Bearing lubrication is provided through oil passages
bearings
drilled in the rod and main journals. Pressurized oil flows from the block
into the main journal oil passage continuously. Oil flow proceeds through
the web into the rod journal oil passages and out to the rod bearings.
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• Crankshafts have To minimize bearing friction and wear, crankshaft main and rod bearing
hard and smooth rod journals have hard, wear resistant surfaces ground to very smooth
and main journal
finishes. Caterpillar crankshafts are heat treated to a hardness greater than
surfaces
Rockwell C40 and polished to a 0.125 µm (5 microinch) surface finish,
the best in the industry.
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10

• Crankshafts transmit The strong forged and heat treated crankshaft structure transmits power to
power both ends of the shaft where it is used to perform useful work in gear
trains, pulleys, flywheels, transmissions, and generators. The crankshaft
also prevents oil loss past the front and rear main journals by providing a
smooth wear seat for front and/or rear oil seals.
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• Caterpillar MANUFACTURING AND ASSEMBLY

crankshafts are steel
forgings
To perform these functions, Caterpillar crankshafts are forged from plain
- Beneficial grain flow carbon steel. Forging produces natural metal flow lines that follow crank
lines contours. This gives greatly increased resistance to fillet cracking from
bending loads and exceptional axial strength to withstand torsional loads.
- Resist heavy loading
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• Some Caterpillar Rough forgings are first machined and then heat treated. 3200, 3300,
crankshafts are 3400 and 3508 crankshafts made from medium carbon steel are furnace
hardened by furnace
heated and water quenched to produce a surface hardness of Rockwell
heating and water
quenching C48 minimum with a case about 2.5 mm (.100 inches) deep over the main
and rod journal wear surface and fillets. This hardened material reduces
journal wear and gives fillets increased strength to counteract the stress
concentrating effect of the small fillet radii.
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• Some Caterpillar Most other crankshafts are made from high carbon steel, induction heated
crankshafts are and water quenched on the main and rod journal wear surfaces only, to
hardened by induction
provide a hard, wear resistant surface.
heating and water
quenching
The larger fillet radii of these cranks can be sufficiently strengthened by
• Fillets may be shot shot peening and do not require heat treatment. Shot peening creates
peened for improved beneficial compressive stresses in the fillets that increase fatigue strength
fatigue stength and resist crack formation.
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• Heat treated forgings Heat treated forgings are carefully finish ground and polished to the 0.125
are ground and µm (5 microinch) surface finish requirement.
polished

All crankshafts are magnetic particle inspected for heat treat or grinder
• Finished crankshafts
are inspected for cracks, forging laps, seams or other flaws before being cleaned and
flaws before assembly assembled into engines.
into engines
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• Crankshaft assembly For crankshafts to operate properly, they must be correctly assembled and
installed. Crankshaft assembly consists of installing plugs in the cross
drilled oil passages, pressing on oil seal wear sleeves, bolting on
counterweights (certain models), and pressing on front and rear gears.
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• Crankshaft installation Installation consists of positioning the crankshaft carefully in the main
and thrust bearings, tightening the main bearing caps in place, and
installing the connecting rods. See the fastener and conn rod modules for
more information about these operations. After main and rod bolts are
properly tightened, the crankshaft should be checked for freedom of
rotation, proper bearing clearance, and amount of endplay. A current
service manual should be consulted for correct procedures and
specifications.
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• Crankshaft on startup CRANKSHAFT LOADING

- Asperity contact When engines are first started, crankshafts begin rotating on the bearing's
residual oil film. This results in some asperity contact between crank
- Heavy loads
journals and bearings until normal oil film thickness minimizes friction.
Piston gas loads cause bending, torsional and thrust loads which the shaft
must be strong enough to carry.
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• Bending loads at Combustion loads push conn rods against rod journals creating high
beginning of power tensile stresses in the rod journal fillets. The slight journal bending that
stroke
occurs puts compressive stresses on the main journal fillets. The forging
- Tensile stress in rod flow lines and shot peened or heat treated fillet material carry the rod
journal fillets journal tensile stresses preventing crack formation.

- Compressive stress
in main journal fillets
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• Bending loads at end As pistons complete the power stroke, they create low tensile stresses in
of power stroke the main journal fillets and compressive stresses in the rod journal fillets.
This information will be very useful during the discussion of crankshaft
- Tensile stress in
main journal fillets bending fatigue failures.

- Compressive stress
in rod journal fillets
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• Crankshafts see As various cylinders fire, each rod journal sees different loads, but all of
torsional loading on the rod journals must move in unison with each others. Resistance to
rod and main journals
movement at either end of the shaft adds to the loading as gears and
flywheels transfer power into mating gears or transmissions. The
combined effect produces twisting or torsional crankshaft loading. This
causes the crankshaft to wrap up slightly like a spring producing flexing
during operation.
• Torsional loads cause
The torsional loading also results in tensile stress at a 45° angle on the rod
tensile stress at 45°
angle on the journal and main journal surfaces.
surface
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• Axial loads try to As power is taken from the crankshaft to drive gear trains, accessories,
move the cranksaft vehicle transmissions, etc., axial forces develop which push the crankshaft
forward or backward
forward or backwards in the block.
in the block

• Axial forces are These axial forces are called thrust loads that are carried by one main
carried by thrust journal thrust wall acting against a thrust bearing in the block.
bearings
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• Normal used FAILURE ANALYSIS PROCESS

crankshaft
appearance Normal crankshaft appearance after operation should not be much
different from new appearance.
- Polishing under
bearings
Main and rod journal polishing produces a brighter appearance where
- Shalow groove at oil bearings support the journals, and oil seals may produce a shallow
seal abrasive wear ring where they make contact.

- Lacquer deposits on
Some brownish lacquer may develop on areas not worn by bearings after
unworn surfaces
thousands of operating hours.
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• Wear failures Crankshafts undergo both wear and fracture. Crankshaft wear usually
results from lube system or bearing problems. Alignment or taper
- Lube system
problems are an exception to this, and may cause adhesive wear that
- Bearing problems
- Alignment or taper shows itself on the bearings.

• Fracture failures Crankshaft fractures are more likely to be the fault of the crankshaft
application, remanufacturing, materials, or manufacturing.
- Application
- Materials
- Manufacturing
- Remanufacturing
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• Eight steps of Applied The safest way to proceed in analyzing crankshaft failures is to use the
Failure Analysis Eight Steps of Applied Failure Analysis. This helps the analyst to gather
necessary facts, identify fracture types, and follow road signs to the real
- Gather necessary
facts root cause of a failure.

- Identify fracture
types

- Follow road signs

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• Obtain background Basic application, operation and maintenance background facts should
facts always be recorded when analyzing failed crankshafts. Background facts
may include total service hours, bearing roll-ins, any crankshaft repairs,
- Application
etc. It would also be useful to investigate conditions a month or two prior
- Operation to failure and ask specifically about problem indicators, such as unusual
noises or starting problems, which may provide clues about the root cause
- Maintenance of the failure.
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• Obtain, identify and To do the best failure analysis, it is usually necessary to obtain, identify
protect parts related and protect all parts related to failure. In most cases, this will only
to the failure
involve the crankshaft, main, thrust, and rod bearings.
- Crankshaft

- Rod bearings

- Main bearings

- Thrust bearings
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• Protect failed parts If parts must be moved to another location for analysis, they should be left
uncleaned and carefully packaged to protect them from physical and
- Physical damage
corrosive damage. When failures are allowed to deteriorate as badly as
- Corrosion the one shown here, failure analysis becomes nearly impossible since vital
road signs have probably been obliterated.
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• Clean parts properly It is extremely important before beginning analysis to properly clean
fracture faces. Many fracture details cannot be seen until parts are
- Mild, non-corrosive
thoroughly cleaned. This is best done with a mild, non-corrosive solvent
solvents
such as stanisol and a soft bristle brush. This will remove oil, grease and
- Soft bristle brush foreign material without disturbing any clues on the parts.
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• Avoid abusive Road signs are easily removed by careless or improper cleaning.
cleaning methods Cleaning crankshaft surfaces by glass beading, grit blasting, wire
brushing or aggressive solvent cleaning should be avoided to prevent
- Glass beads
damaging or completely obliterating road signs.
- Grit blast

- Wire brush

- Scothbrite

- Agressive solvents
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• Inspection When examining failed crankshafts, look for road signs on all surfaces
using angled lighting to create contrast which better reveals wear and
- Adequate light
fracture types. Magnifiers can be very useful for identifying stress raisers
- Angled lighting at crack initiation sites.

- Magnification
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• Inspect all surfaces Before beginning visual examination, all involved parts should be
arranged as they were removed from the engine. A careful inspection of
- Bearing surfaces
bearings can indicate whether crankshaft taper or alignment was bad, if a
- Crankshaft fillet spun bearing generated lots of heat on a rod journal, if fillet contact was a
profile and color result of crankshaft failure or a cause, etc. Fracture examination can
reveal the type of fracture is present, where the fracture initiated, whether
- Fracture surfaces an abnormal stress raiser started the crack, and whether the fracture is a
cause or a result.
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• Look for evidence of: Look carefully for evidence of heat, misalignment or competitive parts
when examining failed crankshafts. Heat from a bearing failure may be
- Heat
severe enough to make the crankshaft unrepairable. Misalignment road
- Misalignment signs, best seen on bearings, may indicate a bent crankshaft or incorrectly
align bored block. Absence of typical Cat markings is a strong clue that
- Competitive parts the crankshaft is a competitive part.
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• Abrasive wear ABRASIVE WEAR

• Hard particles have Crankshaft wear is usually a result of bearing or lube system problems.
scratched the journal
When heavy abrasive scratching (arrow) of journals occurs, it is usually
surface
caused by hard material embedded in bearings but sticking up enough to
• Look for particles scratch the journals.
embedded in the
bearings
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• Adhesive wear ADHESIVE WEAR

• Discoloration (arrow) Adhesive wear can originate with the bearings, the lube system or with
the crankshaft. If the crankshaft is suspected, bearings should be arranged
• Sources
as they were located in the engine and the overlay wear patterns
- Bearings examined. Refer to the bearing failure analysis module for more
information on examining failed engine bearings.
- Lube system

- Crankshaft
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• Fatigue fracture FRACTURES

review
Since most crankshaft fractures are fatigue fractures, it would be useful to
- Initiation site
briefly review the information on fatigue fractures from the "Principles of
- Ratchet marks Fractures" module. Fatigue fracture road signs are flat, smooth fracture
surfaces with beach marks radiating away from the crack initiation site
- Beach marks and ending at final fracture. If several fatigue cracks grow side by side,
ratchet marks develop between them until the individual cracks join up to
- Final fracture
form one large advancing crack. Ratchet marks mean a severe stress
- Shear lip concentrator or high loading existed at the initiation site. The type of
stress raiser can tell us where to look next for clues to cause of failure.
- Stress raiser
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• Bending fatigue Crankshafts fail in bending or torsional fatigue. Bending fatigue starts in
fracture the main or rod fillet at or near the surface. Application, remanufacturing,
materials, or process problems can cause bending fatigue fractures.
- Application

- Manufacturing Torsional fatigue starts on the main or rod journal surface area and spirals
problem around the shaft. It is usually caused by material or process problems.

- Remanufacturing Major improvements in steel cleanliness over the last decade are making
problem
material related failures rare. Certain road signs associated with each type
- Material problem
of fracture can identify bending and torsional fatigue fractures. Likewise,
certain road signs identify various kinds of stress raisers that may initiate
• Torsional fatigue crankshaft failures.
fracture

- Material problem

- Manufacturing
problem
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• Road signs Bending fatigue fracture

1. Flat, smooth This is a rod journal and adjacent web from a D348 crankshaft. What
fracture
road signs are present?
2. Beach marks
Roadsigns on the fracture surface include flat smooth fracture, beach
3. Ductile final marks, ductile final fracture and a fillet initiation site indicating this is a
fracture bending fatigue fracture.

4. Fillet initiation

• Fracture type is
bending fatigue
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• Additional road signs After the fracture initiation site has been identified, examine the fracture
more closely for additional road signs. Are there any additional road
1. Ratchet marks
signs on the fracture? If there are, what information can be gained from
2. Multiple initiation them?
sites
Ratchet marks and multiple initiation sites indicate the presence of high
tensile stresses or some type of defect acting to raise the stresses in the
fillet.
• Crack initiated at the
main journal fillet
Where did the fatigue crack start and how does this relate to the
crankshaft loading that was discussed earlier?
• Combustion load not
a likely root cause The crack started in a main journal fillet meaning combustion loading was
probably not responsible. Combustion loads put main fillets into
compression and tensile stresses are required to make cracks start.
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• Crankshaft failure It would be useful to pause for a moment and think about the crankshaft
facts fracture with the facts that have been gathered so far. This should help
the analyst determine what root cause the road signs are suggesting. The
- Main journal fillet
initiation fatigue fracture initiation site and the ratchet marks indicate that tensile
stresses in the main journal fillet were very high. The loads responsible
- Ratchet marks at the for the tensile stresses cannot come from combustion since it does not put
initiation site high tensile stresses on the main fillets. The loads must be due to unusual
main journal bending forces.
- High bending forces
on the main journal
fillet The road signs are leading the analyst to look for sources of main journal
stress such as align boring problems, improper fillet blending, insufficient
• Possible root causes fillet shot peening, attachment loads, etc.

- Align boring problem

- Improper fillet
blending

- Insufficient shot
peening

- Attachment loads
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• Road signs Reverse Bending Fatigue

- Flat, smooth fracture This is another D348 rod journal and web. What fracture road signs are
present?
- Main fillet initiation

- Second fatigue crack Road signs include a flat, smooth fracture with beach marks starting at the
at rod fillet main fillet. Also a fatigue crack with beach marks and ratchet marks
starting at the rod fillet. Ductile final fracture occurred where the two
- Ratchet marks in rod
fatigue cracks met.
fillet

- Ductile final fracture Which fatigue crack started first?

between two fatigue
cracks The main journal fatigue crack started first since it has grown longer
under lower loads as evidenced by the fine, close spaced beach marks.
• Conclusions
What caused the ratchet marks and second fatigue crack at the rod fillet?
- Large fatigue crack
grew a long time
Once the main fillet crack had weakened the web cross section, the high
- Small fatigue crack combustion forces overloaded the rod fillet starting a crack growing the
initiated under high other direction. This is called reverse bending fatigue.
load

• Example of reverse
bending fatigue
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• Torsional fatigue Torsional Fatigue Fracture

fracture road signs
Crankshafts also can fail by torsional fatigue fracture which has its own
- Flat, smooth surface
set of characteristic road signs. As with bending fatigue, torsional fatigue
- Beach marks results in flat smooth fractures with beach marks radiating away from the
crack initiation site where ratchet marks may be present. Unlike bending
- May be ratchet fatigue fractures, torsional fatigue fractures spiral around the rod or main
marks journal starting from stress raisers in oil holes or lightening holes, or from
material flaws at or just below journal surfaces.
- Spiraling around rod
or main journal

- Initiates from normal

stress raiser (e.g., oil
hole) or material flaw
just below the
surface
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• 3208 crankshaft This rod journal from a 3208 crankshaft has undergone torsional fatigue.
failure To correctly identify the crack initiation site (arrow) find the area on the
fracture face where beach marks are very fine or cannot be seen. Coarse,
- Torsional fatigue
fracture wide spaced beach marks usually appear closer to the final fracture, while
close spaced or difficult to see beach marks usually are found near the
crack origin.

- Initiated at bottom of Based on these road signs, it appears that the crack initiation site is at the
lightening hole
bottom of the lightening hole.

- Look for stress Next, examine the fracture initiation site for stress raisers such as
raisers undercutting by the drill point or quench cracks.
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• Crankshaft stress CRANKSHAFT STRESS RAISERS

raisers
Crankshaft bending and torsional fatigue fractures each have certain road
- Application
signs by which they may be identified. There are a variety of stress
- Material flaws raisers that can initiate crankshaft failure by torsional or bending fatigue
fracture. Characteristic road signs associated with these stress raisers can
- Processing errors help identify crankshaft failure due to such root causes as incorrect
application, material defects, and processing errors.
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• Application overload Overload

- Bending fatigue Sometimes crankshafts are used to supply power to auxiliary equipment
fracture at first rod
through pulleys, belts or gear trains. If the application has not been
or main jorunal fillet
thoroughly studied and approved by Caterpillar engineers, there is the risk
of overloading the front or rear main journal in bending.

- Closely spaced Road signs of this condition are bending fatigue fractures initiating at the
beachmarks
front main or first rod journal fillet with no evidence of stress raisers.
Beachmarks are usually so closely spaced near the crack initiation site
that they cannot be easily seen. The crack grows very slowly towards the
adjacent fillet until the weakened section becomes overloaded and fails.

- Investigate If an application problem is suspected, then investigate the installation

application for
and determine if Caterpillar specifications have been exceeded.
overload conditions
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• Fracture causes Some crankshaft fractures result from material flaws and processing
errors. Since steel mills, forgers, and Caterpillar carefully control
- Material flaws
materials and processes, very few crankshafts fracture in service.
- Process errors
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• Material flaws Material flaws such as inclusions, seams, pipe, flakes, etc. were discussed
in the Basic Metallurgy module. Any of these defects can be present in
- Inclusions
crankshaft steel, but inclusions and flaking are most common.
- Seams
The road sign of material related failures is fatigue initiating from a
- Pipe subsurface origin.

- Flakes

• Look for subsurface

crack initiation
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• Failed 3512 crankshaft Inclusions

This 3512 crankshaft was returned to Caterpillar for failure analysis.

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• Fracture type appears The fracture appears to be bending fatigue occurring between a rod and
to be bending fatigue main journal.
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• Road signs A closer look at the fracture faces shows that bending fatigue fracture
initiated in a main journal fillet with final failure at the rod journal fillet.
- Initiated at main
No ratchet marks are present but the beach marks are very distinct.
journal fillet

- Final fracture at rod

journal fillet

- Distinct beach marks

- No ratchet marks
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• Fatigue fracture The bending fatigue fracture appears to have initiated right at the main
appears to initiate at journal fillet. This was determined by tracing the beach marks on the
the main fillet
fatigue fracture surface back to the point where they originated.
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• Lighting and With better lighting and magnification, the initiation site appears to be
magnification reveal internal which indicates that a stress raiser is present.
internal initiation site

The inclusion (arrow) at the center of the light area (bull's eye) was large
• Fracture initiated at an
inclusion (arrow) in a enough and close enough to the highly stressed fillet to initiate a fatigue
high stress area crack. Subsurface fatigue creates circular beachmark patterns radiating
away from the flaw.
• Inclusion is
surrounded by a
Sometimes, overloading a part may cause an internal crack to start from a
smooth “bull's eye”
flaw that would not have caused a problem had loading remained normal.
• Excessive loads can Do not blame a failure on a material flaw until the loading conditions on
initiate fracture at the part have been reviewed.
otherwise acceptable
inclusions, so check
loading before
blaming material for
this type of failure.
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52

• Road signs Hydrogen Flakes

- Fatigue fracture This bending fatigue failure occurred in a 3408 crankshaft at the web
initiated subsurface
between the first main and rod journal.

• Initiation site is a Fatigue initiated well below the rod journal surface. The stress raiser in
hydrogen flake (arrow) this case is a hydrogen flake (arrow) present in the steel before forging.

• Fracture surface Notice the road signs are identical to those of an inclusion-related failure.
apearance is similar
It may not be possible to tell the difference between various types of
to that for inclusions.
Both indicate a subsurface material flaws, but it is possible to recognize the similarity of
material flaw. the road signs that say a material flaw was involved.

• Material may be the Large flaws or overloading can make the material defect the weakest link
weak link if it has in the chain.
large flaws or is
severely overloaded
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53

• Processing errors PROCESSING ERRORS

- Forging Processing errors can occur during forging, heat treating, straightening or
grinding. Each of these manufacturing problems can result in certain
- Heat treatment
typical road signs on a fracture surface.
- Straightening

- Grinding
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54

• 3408 crankshaft Forging Burns

failure
This 3408 crank failed after 80 hours of service in a 988B. The fracture
- Smooth areas
through the web shows smooth areas, road signs of fatigue, and rough
- Rough areas areas that may be brittle or ductile.
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2
1

55

• Forging burn (1) A closer look under better lighting shows that crystalline brittle areas
defect acted as initiation sites for fatigue which grew to the web surfaces. The
large brittle areas are forging burns (1) that occur when the steel is
- Brittle looking areas
overheated during forging creating internal melting. The large grains that
- Results from form on cooling do not stick to each other and form internal cracks that
overheating and grow under load.
internal melting
during forging Again, the road signs indicate subsurface originating fatigue, and in this
case, large subsurface ratchet marks (2).
• Road signs

- Fatigue initiating
subsurface

- Large subsurface
ratchet marks (2)
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56

• 3208 crankshaft Straightening Crack

bending fatigue
fracture Here's another bending fatigue failure starting in the main fillet of a 3208
crankshaft. Road signs are beach marks, ratchet marks and an unusual
- Beach marks
appearing fracture between the fillet surface and the internal fatigue crack
- Ratchet marks initiation site. This area is a pre-existing crack caused by
overstraightening the crankshaft after heat treatment. The crack was
• Pre-existing rough present when the crank went into service. It acted as a severe stress raiser
surface fracture at
and initiated a fatigue crack with the large ratchet marks shown in the
main fillet - a precrack
figure. Anytime a fatigue crack initiates below the surface of a part, it is
• Fatigue initiated from pretty clear evidence that there was a pre-crack or a material flaw present
precrack after before the part went into service.
crankshaft went into
service

• Fatigue fractures
initiating below a
part’s surface indicate
a precrack or material
flaw
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57

• Road signs Quench Cracks / Grinding Cracks

- Beach marks Heat treat quench cracks may occur during the severe water cooling of the
forging from 870 °C (1600 °F). If oil hole chamfers are not right, or
- Ratchet marks
quench water becomes too cool, stresses set up during quenching can
- Small thumbnail cause small thumbnail shaped cracks in the oil holes. These tiny quench
crack at corner of oil cracks become stress raisers that initiate a fatigue crack in service.
hole (arrow)
Small thumbnail cracks can also result from grinding problems during
manufacturing. Thumbnail cracks from grinding problems may be bright
and shiny rather than dark colored like many quench cracks are.

Careful visual examination at the fatigue origin will usually reveal the
small crack that started the entire problem. Such a crack is located just
above the center of this view, strongly indicating that the root cause of the
failure was a manufacturing problem.
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58

• Grinder burn Grinder burning or cracking may not be detrimental unless it occurs in a
roadsigns high load area such as fillets or oil holes on journal surfaces. The fracture
road signs that indicate grinder damage related failure is the presence of
- Ratchet marks
ratchet marks indicating a severe stress concentrator on a ground surface.
- Fatigue fracture If the fatigue process has not polished the origin too badly, small
thumbnail shaped cracks may be visible at the fracture initiation site.
- Thumbnail cracks
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59

• D348 crankshaft This D348 crankshaft failed in bending fatigue. The crack initiated in the
failure main fillet and progressed towards the rod fillet resulting in reverse
bending fatigue. At the initiation site are several large ratchet marks, road
- Reverse bending
fatigue signs of a stress raiser such as grinder cracking.

- Ratchet marks Grinder cracking can be confirmed by magnetic particle inspection for the
presence of small fillet cracks or by having a met lab acid etch suspicious
• Check for grinding areas of the crank to reveal burns.
cracks

- Magnetic particle
inspection

- Acid etch fillets

AFA STMG 006 - 64 -
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60

• Reconditioned RECONDITIONED CRANKSHAFTS

crankshafts
Another major source of crankshaft failures is not related to Caterpillar
materials, suppliers or processes. Many crankshafts are reconditioned by
machine shops that are not aware of the materials and processes used to
make Caterpillar crankshafts. During reconditioning, the machine shops
can introduce stress raisers by using processes that are not compatible
with the materials or previous processes used to make the crankshaft.
AFA STMG 006 - 65 -
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61

• 3408 crankshaft This 3408 crankshaft was returned for new parts warranty with a fatigue
failure fracture in the thrust main fillet after just a few hundred hours of
operation.
- Returned for new
parts warranty

- Failed at thrust main

fillet

- Only a few hundred

hours of operation
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62

• Road signs Close examination of the fracture surface reveals beach marks that appear
to start well below the crankshaft surface.
- Beach marks

- Initiation below
surface
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63

• Inspect opposite half The other side of the crankshaft fracture shows an identical pattern of
of the fracture beach marks initiating well below the surface.
• Beach marks start
well below the surface
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64

• Close examination A closer look at the fracture surface fails to show any beach marks or
reveals: ratchet marks in the polished area, but does reveal that another crack
existed from the fillet surface down to the polished area. This shallow
- No beach marks or
ratchet marks in the precrack resembles a straightening crack. The smooth polished area may
smooth polished therefore be an area of very high cycle fatigue that was polished smooth
area during the crankshaft failure.

- There was a This crankshaft fracture surface has an unusual appearance compared
precrack between
with the other crankshaft fracture surfaces previously inspected in this
the surace and the
smooth polished module.
area

- The precrack
resembles a
straightening crack

- Overall, the fracture

surface has an
unusual appearance
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65

• This is an unusual The road signs are indicating that this failure is very unusual. To proceed,
failure the analyst should gather facts from the rest of the crank. Examination of
the thrust face shows two irregular dark lines (arrows) running around the
• Examine the rest of
the crankshaft for ground thrust surface. This is an abnormal condition that should be
road signs investigated further.

• Note two irregular

lines (arrows) around
the ground thrust
surface
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66

• Two irregular lines The other side of the fracture also shows a thrust face with two irregular
continue around the circumferentially shaped grooves going around it.
thrust surface
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67

• Close examination Angled lighting and magnification reveal an obvious weld bead (arrow) at
reveals weld beads one location on the thrust face. This explains the presence of the two
(arrow)
irregular lines. This crankshaft had failed, possibly due to a thrust plate
• Crankshaft thrust installed backwards. It was then sent to a rebuilder who machined the
surface was thrust face, filled it with weld metal, and reground it.
improperly
reconditioned by
welding
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68

• Unusual fractures can Unusual failures like the one on the welded crankshaft can be
be misinterpreted as misinterpreted as a material or process problem from the factory. When
material or process
working with unusual part failures, be sure to verify that the failed part is
problems
actually a genuine Caterpillar manufactured or remanufactured part. This
• Always verify that will help the analyst to avoid being fooled into thinking that the failure
failed parts are was due to a factory material or process problem when in fact a
genuine Caterpillar competitive or non-Cat remanufactured part was responsible for the
manufactured or
failure.
remanufactured parts
AFA STMG 006 - 73 -
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69

• Get the payoff This concludes the module on crankshaft failure analysis. Using the eight
steps and good visual analysis examination techniques will reveal the road
- Use Eight Steps to
signs that focus investigation in the right direction. After the problem is
diagnose problems
correctly correctly diagnosed, only half the job is done. The payoff for correct
failure analysis can only be gained by communicating with the customer,
- Communicate with making the best repairs at the lowest possible cost, and following up to
the customer insure the problem is corrected.
- Make repairs
INSTRUCTOR NOTE: Students should next participate in a
- Follow up to insure practical exercise. The instructor should select six (6) to twelve (12)
that the problem was failed parts representing the abnormal wear and fractures discussed
corrected in this lesson. Using the worksheet (Handout No. 1) in this guide,
students should record road signs they observe, what the road signs
• Laboratory exercise
mean, and where the analyst should next seek additional facts for
should follow
each failed part.
AFA STMG 006 - 74 -
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SLIDE LIST
1. Crankshafts cartoon slide 42. Fractured crankshaft
2. Presentation overview 43. Crankshaft stress raisers
3. Types of crankshaft failures 44. Fractured crankshaft
4. Crankshaft terminology 45. Fracture causes
5. Crankshaft functions 46. Material flaws
6. Reciprocating to rotary motion 47. Fractured crankshaft
7. Crankshaft forces 48. Fractured crankshaft - closeup 1
8. Oil to main & rod bearings 49. Fractured crankshaft - closeup 2
9. Hard, polished bearing journals 50. Fractured crankshaft - closeup 3
10. Pulleys remove power from engine 51. Fractured crankshaft - closeup 4
11. Forged crankshaft material illustration 52. Fractured crankshaft
12. Crankshaft heat treatment 53. Processing errors
13. Induction hardened journal section 54. Crankshaft forging burn
14. Crankshaft finish grind & polish 55. Crankshaft forging burn - closeup
15. Crankshaft assembly 56. Quench crack at oil hole
16. Crankshaft installation 57. Straightening crack
17. Crankshaft at engine startup 58. Roadsigns of grinder burn failure
18. Crankshaft bending loads - 1 59. Fractured crankshaft
19. Crankshaft bending loads - 2 60. Reconditioned crankshafts
20. Torsional loading 61. Fractured crankshaft
21. Thrust bearing for thrust loads 62. Fractured crankshaft - closeup 1
22. Normal appearance 63. Fractured crankshaft - closeup 2
23. Crankshaft wear & fracture 64. Fractured crankshaft - closeup 3
24. Eight steps of AFA 65. Fractured crankshaft - closeup 4
25. Obtain background facts 66. Fractured crankshaft - closeup 5
26. Obain parts related to failure 67. Fractured crankshaft - closeup 6
27. Package & protect failed cranks 68. Caterpillar remanufactured crankshafts
28. Clean fracture surfaces carefully 68. Get the payoff
29. Avoid harsh cleaning methods
30. Use angled lighting
31. Inspect all surfaces
32. Especially look for Evidence of...
33. Crankshaft with abrasive wear
34. Crankshaft with adhesive wear
35. Fatigue crack growth illustration
36. Crankshaft failures
37. Fractured crankshaft
38. Fractured crankshaft closeup
39. Roadsigns on fractured crankshaft
40. Fractured crankshaft
41. Torsional fatigue
AFA STMG 006 - 75 - Student Handout
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Applied Failure Analysis Laboratory Worksheet

What do you see? What does it mean? Where do you go next?

10
SESV8006 Printed in U.S.A.
8/2000