Failure analysis of a wire rope

Wire ropes, pulleys, counterweights, and connecting systems are used for auto tensioning of contact wires of electric railways. A wire rope in one such auto tensioning system suffered premature failure. Failure investigation revealed fatigue cracks initiating at nonmetallic inclusions near the surface of individual wire strands in the rope. The inclusions were identified as Al-Ca-Ti silicates in a large number of stringers, and some oxide and nitride inclusions were also found. The wire used in the rope did not conform to the composition specified for AISI 316 grade steel, nor did it satisfy the minimum tensile strength requirements. Failure of the wire rope was found to be due to fatigue; however, the ultimate fracture of the rope was the result of overload that occurred after fatigue failure had reduced the number of wire strands supporting the load.     

Metallurgical Investigation of Failed Locked Coil Track Ropes Used in a Mining Conveyor

A locked coil track rope (LCTR) is essentially composed of wires (round and rail-shaped) laid helically in different layers. These wire ropes are sometimes used in conveyors carrying empty and loaded buckets in mining areas. During service, such wire ropes may fail prematurely due to disintegration/failure of individual groups of wires. To understand the genesis of LCTR wire failures, a detailed metallurgical investigation of failed rope wires was made and included visual examination, optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and electron probe microanalysis (EPMA). Two types of failed wires were investigated; one is from a 40 mm diameter locked coil track rope and the other from a 53 mm locked coil track rope. Optical microscopy of failed round wires in the 53 mm diameter rope clearly revealed fully decarburized layers at the surface and a few grain-boundary cracks. From the location of the failure, it was clear that apart from static tensile loads, the wire ropes had been subjected to bending and unbending loads near the saddle, as fully loaded or empty buckets traveled access the conveyor. The SEM studies confirmed that the fracture had been caused by initiation of fatigue cracks in the decarburized zone under conditions of repeated bending and unbending stresses superimposed on the static tensile load.     

Microstructural manifestations of fractured Z-profile steel wires on the outer layer of a failed locked coil wire rope

Locked coil wire ropes, by virtue of their unique design and construction, have specialized applications in aerial ropeways, mine hoist installations, suspension bridge cables, and so forth. In such specialty ropes, the outer layer is constructed of Z-profile wires that provide not only effective interlocking but also a continuous working surface for withstanding in-service wear. The compact construction and fill-factor of locked coil wire ropes make them relatively impervious to the ingress of moisture and render them less vulnerable to corrosion. However, such ropes are comparatively more rigid than conventional wire ropes with fiber cores and therefore are more susceptible to the adverse effects of bending stresses. The reasons for premature in-service wire rope failures are rather complex but frequently may be attributed to inappropriate wire quality and/or abusive operating environment. In either case, a systematic investigation to diagnose precisely the genesis of failure is desirable. This article provides a microstructural insight into the causes of wire breakages on the outer layer of a 40 mm diameter locked coil wire rope during service. The study reveals that the breakages of Z-profile wires on the outer rope layer were abrasion induced and accentuated by arrays of fine transverse cracks that developed on a surface martensite layer.     

The effects of sea water and concentrated salt solutions on the fatigue of nylon 6,6 fibres

Cyclic fatigue and creep rupture tests have been run on high-tenacity nylon 6,6 single fibres, yarns and small ropes in air and sea water environments. Fatigue failure in each case is by a creep rupture mechanism; yarns and small ropes show the same fatigue sensitivity as do single fibres. Sea water reduces the strength by approximately 10% under most conditions. Concentrated metallic salt solutions which cause environmental stress cracking in bulk nylon do not degrade the fibres beyond the effect of plain water. Tests on oriented nylon specimens show that environmental stress crack sensitivity is greatly reduced by orientation.     

Microfractography in failure analysis of cold forging dies

In this paper microfractographic features in fracture surfaces for tensile, fatigue, impact and three point bending of cold forging die steels with Rockwell C scale hardness number of 52–68 is presented. The emphasis is placed upon the stretched zone formation ahead of fatigue crack and the relation between the stretched zone width and fracture toughness of these cold forging die steels. Finally it is briefly described that the quantitative analysis for cold forging die failure can be possible by measuring the stretched zone width.     

通用桥式起重机钢丝绳断裂失效分析

为查明某玻璃厂一台通用桥式起重机钢丝绳断裂导致货物坠落的事故原因,对断裂的钢丝绳进行了理化检验,并对钢丝绳滑轮组和防跳绳安全保护装置的结构进行了分析。结果表明：钢丝绳断裂为挤压磨损致使钢丝绳不能承受较大载荷而产生的一次性大应力断裂,导致事故的直接原因是防跳绳安全保护装置的结构设计存在严重缺陷,使钢丝绳脱出滑轮槽在轴衬套上运行,产生较大的滑动摩擦力,使钢丝绳磨损变形。     

Fatigue behaviour of synthetic fibres,yarns, and ropes

S-N fatigue and creep-rupture data have been obtained for nylon 6,6 single fibres, interlaced yarns, and small ropes under a variety of loading conditions. The results show a similar degradation rate at each level of structure, with no apparent influence of inter-fibre effects. Cyclic lifetimes of single fibres of nylon 6,6 as well as polyester and aramid can be predicted from a creep rupture model. Consistent with this model, the time to failure is insensitive to frequency over a broad range. For each level of structure the strain at failure is the same whether tested in simple tension or under cyclic or creep loading. Failure modes were generally similar in creep rupture and cyclic fatigue tests; no effect of a slack load on each cycle was evident either in the failure mode or specimen lifetime.     

A new low-carbon microalloyed steel wire in drilling rope

SAE 1065 steel wire ropes are prone to individual wire fracture due to the martensite structure with high carbon and high microhardness formed on the wire surface because of friction. A new low-carbon microalloyed steel wire composed of lath bainite with fine carbides dispersed in bainitic ferrite and lath martensite is developed in this paper. For the developed steel wire with a diameter of 1.0?mm, the tensile strength and low-cycle fatigue resistance are higher than those of commercial SAE 1065 wire. It is shown that the individual wire fracture caused by as-quenched martensite formation and severe plastic deformation can be avoided in the developed steel wire. Also, the design process and associated manufacturing process are discussed in detail.     

Theoretical and experimental investigation of effects of failures on the tensile endurance of elevator ropes

Elevators have an important place in human life just after uprising demands in high rise buildings, skyscraper and luxury residence concepts have surged. Steel wire ropes provide permanent working safety and reliability in the elevator installations. Due to this reason steel wire ropes are one of the vital components of elevators. In this study, effects of discard criteria such as wire breaks, abrasive wear and corrosion where extents of those failures are defined by ISO 4344 standard on the tensile endurance of 6×19 Seale and 8×19 Warrington elevator ropes have been investigated theoretically and experimentally. Tensile endurances of rope samples that have different extents of failure have been determined by using tensile testing machine and comparison is made by undamaged samples for each rope separately. In addition, stress and strain values occurred on the elevator ropes investigated have also been presented. The most critical failure type has been found to be 24 wire breaks for 6×19 Seale rope with fiber core where lifting capacity reduced by 25.99 %. The most critical failure type has been found to be abrasive wear which is 0.1 mm in depth along 100 mm length for 8×19 Warrington rope with independent wire rope core where lifting capacity reduced by 7.93 %.     

Effect of degradation and impaired quality on wire rope bending over sheave fatigue endurance

This paper reports the outcome of a series of tests undertaken on six strand and multi-strand ropes to investigate the effects of degradation and impaired quality on the rope’s Bending-over-Sheave (BoS) fatigue endurance. The simulated degradation and quality impairment investigated were: wire breaks (internal and external); plastic wear, abrasive wear, corrosion, slack strands, slack wires and torsional imbalance. Theoretical predictions of rope fatigue endurance have been made to compare with the experimental values, using Feyrer’s equation. The investigation indicates that the bending over sheave fatigue endurance of rope is little influenced by degradation and impaired quality, which is primarily dependent on the rope construction and the diameter ratio of sheave to rope. The study establishes methodologies for assessment of the residual BoS fatigue endurance of degraded or impaired rope, which can inform the practical operation, inspection and discard of wire rope thereby enhancing safety.     

The use of fracture mechanics in failure analysis in the offshore diamond mining industry

This paper considers two major failures of offshore diamond mining equipment, which should not have occurred had both fracture mechanics aspects and materials behaviour been more fully understood. The two case studies include (a) failure of a wire rope swivel, and (b) failure of a load cell (used for monitoring rope load). In case (a) the swivel shank had failed in reverse bending fatigue, although it was thought initially to experience only tensile stresses. The linkage system to the haul rope, through a form of clevis plates, led to high bending fatigue stresses, and the failure was exacerbated by inappropriate remedial changes, including poor choice of material, as well as stress concentrating effects induced by a shrink fit stainless steel collar. In case (b), complete collapse of a gantry, sheave wheel system and partial A frame support resulted from the prior brittle failure of the load cell, and this could be attributed to incorrect heat treatment of the load cell material. In both cases quantitative use is made of fracture mechanics in the failure assessment.     

On the bending of a stretched wire - case study of a tension measuring device

The case of a stretched wire bent successively over a system of three pulleys has been analysed with specific reference to a commonly used wire tension measuring device. With the help of the simple theory of elastic bending, expressions for the tension variation, angles of wrap, deflections etc., at the pulley have been obtained. A brief parametric study leads to some useful design guidelines. The analysis can be usefully applied to other systems also where wirelwire rope is bent over multiple pulleys.     

Failure Analysis of Gearbox and Clutch Shaft from a Marine Engine

This article presents metallurgical failure analysis of a gearbox shaft and a clutch shaft from a marine engine. The gearbox shaft was made of low alloy steel, and the clutch shafts were components made of carbon steel. Fracture surface examination revealed circumferential ratchet marks with the presence of inward progressive beach marks suggesting rotary-bending fatigue failure in the case of gearbox shaft. The star-shaped pattern on the clutch shaft fracture surface suggested that the failure was due to torsional overloading which might have initiated at corrosion pits visible around the fracture surface. The gearbox shaft experienced rotational bending stresses which induced fatigue failure because the fatigue strength of the alloy was too low. The fatigue failure of the gearbox shaft led to the torsional failure of the corroded clutch shaft. The sudden, high level failure load on the clutch shaft occurred when the gear box shaft failed.     

Investigation of service failures of steel music wire

An investigation of a number of service failures of the hard steel strings of plucked musical instruments is reported. All the failed strings were found to contain transverse fatigue cracks, mostly located near the end of the vibrating length (e.g. at the “bridge” of the instrument) and extending to about one third of the section thickness. One wire had corroded severely before failing in fatigue. Final failure occurred by ductile fracture.An analysis of the service stresses showed that the strings are subjected to high mean tensile stresses resulting principally from elastoplastic bending opposite the failure location. It is shown that a small cyclic axial tension arises from repeated plucking during playing and this can lead to fatigue initiation and propagation over a large proportion of the wire cross section.Neither surface nor bulk defects, wear nor contact stresses were found to be factors of importance in the cases examined, contrary to some speculation.     

Fatigue prediction for hoist cables over sheaves in large mining shovel application

Cables are used in many engineering applications, whether considered as stationary or running cables. In the latter, ropes are subjected to repeated tension and bending as they run over a sheave wheel. Such loading scenarios are seen for large mining equipment such as draglines and shovel hoist ropes. Fretting fatigue failure often occurs after several cycles of loading because of wires rubbing against each other and external wires rubbing against sheave wheels. It is also pertinent to understand the behaviour of cables subjected to bending over sheaves, to be able to predict fretting fatigue life, so as to set preventive maintenance activities to avoid catastrophic failure in such systems. In this paper, the behaviour of 2 specific configuration strands, composing either 7 or 19 wires, bent over a sheave is investigated numerically. To aid preventive maintenance inspection, critical locations of stress concentrations are identified as a function of applied load or tensile stress. The investigation also considers the impact of groove size, diameter of sheave to diameter of cable ratio, and contact length, enabling the application to infer fatigue life.     

Failure Analysis of Failed Wire Rope

Failure of an old rope from a stringing lattice transmission towers occurred in winter while the rope was being removed to make way for a new rope. Fracture took place around mid-span. At that time, ambient temperature was −22 °C. Wire rope was in service for nearly 50 years. We were given the mandate to determine the reasons for the fracture of the wire rope and also to suggest measures to prevent such failures from occurring. The study involved laboratory testing (mechanical and metallographic) of representative wire rope samples. The effect of low temperature (from room temperature to −40 °C) on the tensile behavior of wires and wire rope samples was evaluated. In addition, we designed an instrumented impact test to assess the effect of notches, low temperatures and dynamic loading on the fracture behavior; however, no standards were available for direct comparison. Optical metallography was used to judge the extent of corrosion and the nature of microstructure and the cleanliness of the steel. The fracture morphology of broken tensile and impact specimens was carried out using scanning electron microscopy to establish relations between test parameters and fracture modes. Results indicate that considerations have to be given to the occurrence of corrosion, notches, low temperatures, and dynamic loading conditions when replacing wire ropes and this may necessitate the replacement of wire rope earlier than the time dictated by the criterion of 10% loss in breaking strength. Results also indicate that impact testing is a better evaluator of the susceptibility of wire ropes to brittle fracture than tensile tests.     

A mechanism of fatigue failure in nylon fibres

The use of an apparatus which is able to fatigue test fibres in a new and original manner has revealed that a fatigue mechanism does exist in nylon fibres. This mechanism is revealed by a distinctive fracture morphology, as seen with the aid of a scanning electron microscope, and failure when the fibre is cycled to loads which, under steady conditions, would not result in fracture. It is shown that a necessary condition for fatigue failure is the cycling of the fibre to a zero minimum load. An explanation for the history and development of such a fatigue break is given.     

Fractal Nature of the Brittle Fracture Surfaces of Metal

We have studied the fracture surfaces of low-alloy low-perlite steel after impact bending tests and of aluminum wire after fatigue failure at different temperatures. We have established that the fracture surfaces after brittle destruction are fractal surfaces. On the basis of the fractal model of a crack and the determined fractal dimensionalities of the boundaries of fracture surfaces, we have evaluated the critical sizes of brittle cracks.__________Translated from Fizyko-Khimichna Mekhanika Materialiv, Vol. 41, No. 1, pp. 58 – 62, January – February, 2005.     

Analysis of the fatigue failure of a mountain bike front shock

We present an analysis of a mountain bike front shock failure. The failure of the 1-year-old shock occurred catastrophically as the bike was ridden off of a 1-m drop. The failure was the result of fast fracture through both shock tubes at the location where the tubes were press fit into the shock upper crown. Examination of the fracture surfaces of the tubes revealed regions of fatigue crack growth that nearly penetrated the entire thickness of both tubes. An estimate of the forces during use, coupled with stress analysis, revealed three stresses near the fracture site—axial compression, bending, and hoop stresses. During operation, the axial compressive stress is negligible while the hoop and bending stresses are significant. Based on fracture mechanics, and an estimate of the bending stress from a 1-m drop, it is confirmed that the fatigue cracks present on the fracture surface were large enough to induce fast fracture. Prior to the existence of the fatigue cracks, the stresses were magnified locally near the fracture site by a significant stress concentration caused by the sharp transition from the shock tube to the crown. The fatigue cracks initiated at a circumferential location in the tube commensurate with high tensile bending stress and the stiffest region of the crown (highest stress concentration). Based on the evidence, the most probable cause of the bike shock fatigue failure was the shock design, which facilitated high local stresses during use.     

Analysis of a crankshaft fatigue failure

The reason of the crankshaft fracture of the air compressor has been analyzed through the chemical composition, mechanical properties, macroscopic feature, microscopic structure and theoretical calculation methods. The analysis results show that the crankshaft which has obvious fatigue crack belongs to fatigue fracture. The fatigue crack initiated from the fillet region of the lubrication hole because of the high bending stress concentration which is caused by both the small fillet and the misalignment of main journals. The crankshaft fatigue fracture was only attributed to the initiation and propagation of the fatigue cracks on the lubrication hole under cyclic bending and torsion. The high bending loading bending level is the root cause of the failure.