Bending Fatigue of Carburized Steel at Very Long Lives

The bending fatigue behavior of two carburized steels is investigated for lives between approximately 10⁵ and 10⁸ cycles. Cracks are observed to start at sub-surface inclusions and develop features on fracture surfaces resembling “fish eyes” in appearance. This type of sub-surface cracking tends to govern fatigue strength at long lives. Previous studies of “fish eye” fatigue in carburized steel have been relatively few and have mainly considered failures originating at depths beneath a carburized case, where compressive residual stresses are minimal and hardness values approach those in the core. This study provides fatigue data for cracks originating within cases at various depths where compressive residual stresses are substantial and hardness is much higher than in the core. Fatigue strength is predicted by a simple model, accounting for the influence of residual stresses and hardness values at the different depths at which cracks started. Predictions of fatigue strength are compared with data generated in this study.