高洁净度齿轮钢中非金属夹杂物的检测方法

研究了一种方便可靠的夹杂物评估方法:利用合适电化学充氢后的拉伸试样获取夹杂物并与极值统计法相结合估算不同体积钢中非金属夹杂物的最大尺寸并预测疲劳强度。研究选用工业生产的高洁净度20Cr2Ni4A齿轮钢,将淬火+低温回火态的标准拉伸试样进行电化学充氢,使拉伸断口由于氢脆现象存在一些以粗大非金属夹杂物为中心的脆性平台,从而可方便快捷地在扫描电子显微镜下对夹杂物的类型、尺寸和分布进行检测,并利用极值统计法对钢中的最大夹杂物尺寸进行评估。为了验证该方法的准确性,采用传统金相法和旋转弯曲疲劳试验对钢中非金属夹杂物进行了检测,结果表明,使用本文所提出的夹杂物评估方法预测的钢中最大夹杂物尺寸及疲劳强度与疲劳试验结果相吻合。因此,该方法有望成为预测高洁净度高强度钢中最大夹杂物尺寸及其疲劳强度的一种有效方法。      

Influence of Surface Mechanical Attrition Treatment Duration on Fatigue Lives of Ti–6Al–4V

This work deals with the influence of surface mechanical attrition treatment (SMAT) duration on fatigue lives of Ti–6Al–4V. The SMAT process was carried out in vacuum with SAE 52100 steel balls of 5 mm diameter for 30 and 60 min at a vibrating frequency of 50 Hz. SMAT treated surface was characterized by electron microscopy. Surface roughness, nano-indentation hardness, residual stress, and tensile properties of the material in both SMAT treated and untreated conditions were determined. SMAT enabled surface nanocrystallization, increased surface roughness, surface hardness, compressive residual stress and tensile strength but reduced ductility. Samples treated for 30 min exhibited superior fatigue lives owing to positive influence of nanostructured surface layer, compressive residual stress and work hardened layer. However, fatigue lives of the samples treated for 60 min were inferior to those of untreated samples due to presence of microdamages or cracks induced by the impacting balls during the treatment.     

Finite element simulation of the influence of TiC inclusions on the fatigue behavior of NiTi shape-memory alloys

In fatigue experiments of NiTi shape-memory alloys (SMAs), TiC inclusions have been found to cause cracks. Based on bending-rotation fatigue (BRF) experiments, which have evolved as one standard method to study the structural fatigue of superelastic NiTi wires, the influence of TiC inclusions on the fatigue behavior of NiTi SMAs has been analyzed quantitatively in this article. Aurichio’s superelastic model was implemented into the finite element (FE) code ABAQUS. One specimen without inclusion and seven specimens with inclusions, at different distances with respect to the neutral axis of the wire specimens, have been analyzed. The stress distributions at the cross sections are nonlinear, and there is a stress plateau in the cross section when the phase transformation occurs. The stress distribution in the cross section of the specimen without inclusion is not only dependent on the load, but also dependent on the loading path and loading history. On the other hand, the maximum stress of the specimen without inclusion is not always at the surface, which is due to the phase transformation behavior of SMAs. The existence of the inclusions changes the stress distributions in the cross section. The maximum stress is dependent on the position of the inclusions, the load, and the loading path. It has been found that the maximum stresses increase as the distance from the inclusion to the neutral axis increases. When the inclusion is at the specimen surface, the maximum stress is the highest among all the studied cases. Such high stresses caused by the inclusions can easily induce fatigue cracks. The simulation can explain the fatigue behavior of BRF experiments and provide a deep insight into the fatigue fracture mechanism of SMAs.     

Corrosion fatigue in nitrocarburized quenched and tempered steels

In order to investigate the fatigue strength and fracture mechanism of salt bath nitrocarburized steels, specimens of the steels SAE 4135 and SAE 4140, in a quenched and tempered state, and additionally in a salt bath nitrocarburized and oxidizing cooled state as well as in a polished (after the oxidizing cooling) and renewed oxidized state, were subjected to comparative rotating bending fatigue tests in inert oil and 5 pct NaCl solution. In addition, some of the quenched and tempered specimens of SAE 4135 material were provided with an approximately 50-μm-thick electroless Ni-P layer, in order to compare corrosion fatigue behavior between the Ni-P layer and the nitride layers. Long-life corrosion fatigue tests of SAE 4135 material were carried out under small stresses in the long-life range up to 10⁸ cycles with a test frequency of 100 Hz. Fatigue tests of SAE 4140 material were carried out in the range of finite life (low-cycle range) with a test frequency of 13 Hz. The results show that the 5 pct NaCl environment drastically reduced fatigue life, but nitrocarburizing plus oxidation treatment was found to improve the corrosion fatigue life over that of untreated and Ni-P coated specimens. The beneficial effect of nitrocarburizing followed by oxidation treatment on cor-rosion fatigue life results from the protection rendered by the compound layer by means of a well-sealed oxide layer, whereby the pores present in the compound layer fill up with oxides. The role of inclusions in initiating fatigue cracks was investigated. It was found that under corrosion fatigue conditions, the fatigue cracks started at cavities along the interfaces of MnS inclusions and matrix in the case of quenched and tempered specimens. The nitrocarburized specimens, however, showed a superposition of pitting corrosion and corrosion fatigue in which pores and nonmetallic inclusions in the compound layer play a predominant role concerning the formation of pits in the substrate.     

Nanoindentation as a strength probe—a study on the hardness dependence of indent size for fine-grained and coarse-grained ferritic steel

A nanoindentation hardness testing system, including an atomic-force microscope (AFM)-based nanoindentation tester and a calibration method using electrolytically polished single-crystal metals as references, was proposed. This was applied to a study of the mechanical properties of fine-grained ferritic steel (grain size of 1.2 μm) and coarse-grained ferritic steel (30 μm). An empirical function giving the macroscopic hardness for all four reference metals from the nanoindentation force curves was established. The converted Vickers hardness (HV^*) of the coarse-grained steel is almost independent of the indent size. The fine-grained steel shows only HV^* 130 with an indent of only 100 nm, compared with a macroscopic hardness of HV 210. The difference, HV 80, is considered to reflect the amount of grain-boundary strengthening. The critical indent size for the hardness transition seems to be around 1 μm, comparable to the grain size of the specimen. This result supports the explanation of grain-boundary strengthening. It is also consistent with Pickering's work on low-carbon steel, as the estimated locking parameter (k of 2.6×10⁵ N/m^3/2) in the Hall-Petch relationship is in good agreement with his value of 2.4×10⁵ N/m^3/2. TOHRU HAYASHI, Senior Researcher, formerly with the Strength and Life Evaluation Research Station, National Research Institute for Metals.     

Estimation of the Ultimate Tensile Strength of Steel from Its <Emphasis Type="Italic">HB</Emphasis> and <Emphasis Type="Italic">HV</Emphasis> Hardness Numbers and Coercive Force

A formula is derived to accurately describe the tabulated relation between the Brinell (HB) and Vickers (HV) hardnesses of steel over the entire range of their possible variation. This formula and the formulas describing the relation between the HB hardness of chromium–molybdenum and chromium–nickel steels and their ultimate tensile strength σ_u are used to analyze the change in σ_u of 38KhNM steel upon quenching and tempering. The data that reveal a relation between σ_u of 38KhNM steel and its coercive force are obtained.     

Axial fatigue testing of Ti–6Al–4V using an alternative specimen geometry fabricated by metal injection moulding

The hourglass-shaped specimen, which is commonly used for axial fatigue testing, cannot be easily fabricated by metal injection moulding. Consequently, this work aimed at evaluating the performance of an alternative specimen (dog bone geometry) for fatigue characterisation. Additionally, an effort towards the assessment of the fatigue damage with specimens fatigued until halflife was made. The alloy used in this study, serving as an example for the test validation, was Ti–6Al–4V. The feasibility of using the specimens for fatigue testing was confirmed with a narrow scatterband, however, only in the range of 10⁵ cycles. The crack initiation sites were always found on the surface associated with quasi cleavage facets. Specimens fatigued until halflife showed a decrease in ductility in conventional tensile testing; nonetheless, the ultimate tensile strength remained unchanged.     

Effect of Surface Mechanical Attrition Treatment on Fatigue Lives of Alloy 718

The effect of surface mechanical attrition treatment (SMAT) and its duration on fatigue lives of alloy 718 has been studied. The SMAT process was carried out in vacuum (?0.1?MPa) with SAE 52100 steel balls of 5?mm diameter for 30 and 60?min at a vibrating frequency of 50?Hz. SMAT resulted in surface nanocrystallization, higher surface roughness, higher surface hardness, higher compressive residual stress, higher tensile strength, reduced ductility and superior fatigue lives. The enhancement in the fatigue lives of treated samples can be attributed to the positive influence of nanostructured surface layer, compressive residual stress and work hardened layer, which surpassed the negative effect of increased surface roughness. There was no significant difference between the fatigue lives of samples treated for 30 and 60?min.     

Fatigue Strength and Crack Initiation Mechanism of Very-High-Cycle Fatigue for Low Alloy Steels

The fatigue strength and crack initiation mechanisms of very-high-cycle fatigue (VHCF) for two low alloy steels were investigated. Rotary bending tests at 52.5?Hz with hour-glass type specimens were carried out to obtain the fatigue propensity of the test steels, for which the failure occurred up to the VHCF regime of 10⁸ cycles with the S-N curves of stepwise tendency. Fractography observations show that the crack initiation of VHCF is at subsurface inclusion with ??fish-eye?? pattern. The fish-eye is of equiaxed shape and tends to tangent the specimen surface. The size of the fish-eye becomes large with the increasing depth of related inclusion from the surface. The fish-eye crack grows faster outward to the specimen surface than inward. The values of the stress intensity factor (K _I ) at different regions of fracture surface were calculated, indicating that the K _I value of fish-eye crack is close to the value of relevant fatigue threshold (??K _th ). A new parameter was proposed to interpret the competition mechanism of fatigue crack initiation at the specimen surface or at the subsurface. The simulation results indicate that large inclusion size, small grain size, and high strength of material will promote fatigue crack initiation at the specimen subsurface, which are in agreement with experimental observations.     

Surface zone hardening during the bending fatigue of nickel

Fatigue tests were performed on commercially pure nickel at room temperature, utilizing fully reversed bending, in the environments of dry air and 2 vol pct nitric acid in water. It was found that the surface hardening from fatigue was the same for both environments, at any given bending moment. A limiting surface Vickers hardness of ≃ 160 kgmm^-2 occurred in the fracture zone, independent of indenter weight, for fatigue lives of 10⁴ to 10⁷ cycles approximately. Slip band cracks were seen on specimens that had fatigue hardened above the Vickers hardness level of ≃ 140kgmm^-2. This corresponded to the minimum hardness level at which slip bands were detectable with white light optical microscopy. Formerly at Oklahoma State University.     

Anisotropy of ductile fracture in hot-rolled steel plates-an application of the upset test

Upset testing of cylindrical specimens generates circumferential tensile stresses at the barreled surfaces. These stresses can be utilized in the same manner as the tensile stresses in the tension test to evaluate the ductility of materials. Using the upset test method, the anisotropy of ductile fracture in AISI 1045 hot-rolled steel plates was determined. Ductility parallel to the plane of inclusions is found to be ≈ 50 pet higher than that perpendicular to the inclusions. It is shown that the local surface strains at fracture in upset testing correlate well with the true zero-gage-length fracture strain in tension testing, provided the tensile stresses in the respective tests are in the same direction relative to the inclusion orientation. Thus, compression tests parallel to the inclusion direction, which generate tensile stresses perpendicular to the inclusions, can be utilized to measure ductility transverse to the fiber of wrought materials. This is particularly useful in determining the short transverse or through-thickness ductility in hot-rolled or forged materials having thin sections.     

Detecting Large Inclusions in Steels: Evaluating Methods

The distributions of large non‐metallic inclusions in two steel grades have been investigated using light optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and ultrasonic fatigue testing in the gigacycle range. The different methods have inherently different capabilities for finding inclusions in different size ranges. A measure of the distribution of large inclusions is proposed as the size S at which half of the fatigue specimens are expected to contain at least one inclusion of size S or larger, corresponding to 50% failure probability. Values of S are obtained using the volume distribution estimated by the three methods. Extrapolation from microscopy measurements on surfaces agree with fatigue fractography results regarding density of large inclusions, as measured by the proposed ranking variable S.     

连铸与模铸高铁车轴钢的高周疲劳破坏行为

连铸车轴钢能否达到模铸车轴钢的性能水平是其能否应用的一个关键。对此,采用旋转弯曲疲劳试验及疲劳裂纹扩展速率试验对比研究了连铸与模铸工艺生产的高铁车轴钢的高周疲劳破坏行为。结果表明,工业试制的连铸车轴钢的强度和疲劳极限均低于模铸车轴钢,且前者的疲劳裂纹扩展速率略高于后者。疲劳断口分析表明,疲劳断裂大部分起源于试样表面基体。微观组织分析表明,尽管两者的微观组织均为高温回火马氏体,但连铸车轴钢中原奥氏体晶粒尺寸及碳化物均略大于模铸车轴钢。金相评级法及夹杂物极值统计法的结果均表明,连铸车轴钢中的夹杂物尺寸明显大于模铸车轴钢。因此,为了以连铸工艺取代模铸工艺,还需要进一步优化连铸车轴钢的成分、冶金生产和热处理等工艺,以获得优良的冶金质量和组织性能。     

Investigation of Corrosion Behavior of Borided Gear Steels

In this study, corrosion behaviors of GS18NiMoCr36 (GS 18) and GS32NiCrMo6.4 (GS 32) gear steels borided in Ekabor-II powder at the temperature of 950 °C for 2 and 6 h were investigated in a 6 % M HCI acid solution. The boride layer was characterized by optical microscopy, X-ray diffraction technique and the Micro-Vickers hardness tester. X-ray diffraction analysis of boride layers on the surface of the steels revealed the existence of FeB, Fe₂B, CrB and Cr₂B compounds. The thickness of the boride layer increases by increasing boriding time for gear steels. The hardness of the boride compounds formed on the surface of the steels GS 18 and GS 32 ranged from 1,728 to 1,905 HV_0,05 and 1,815 to 2,034 HV_0,05 respectively, whereas Vickers hardness values of the untreated steels GS 18 and GS 32 were 335 HV_0,05 and 411 HV_0,05, respectively. The corrosion resistance of borided gear steels is higher compared with that of unborided steels. The boride layer increased the corrosion resistances of gear steels 4–6-fold.     

Effect of volume fraction and shape of sulfide inclusions on through-thickness ductility and impact energy of high-strength 4340 plate steels

The effect of volume fraction and shape of sulfide inclusions on the tensile ductility and impact energy of high-strength AISI 4340 plate steels in the transverse and through-thickness testing directions was investigated for four tensile-strength levels of 930, 1210, 1410, and 1960 MPa (135, 175, 205, and 285 ksi). The volume fraction of sulfide inclusions was changed by varying the sulfur content from 0.002 to 0.022 pct. The shape of the sulfide inclusions was changed from lenticular MnS to spheroidal RE₂O₂S (RE_xS_y) by rare-earth treatment. Axisymmetric tensile ductility and charpy impact energy [22 °C (72 °F)] decreased much more rapidly in the through-thickness testing direction than in the transverse testing direction when the volume fraction of sulfide inclusions was increased. Changing the shape of the sulfide inclusions from lenticular MnS to spheroidal RE₂O₂S (RE_xS_y) by rare-earth treatment increased axisymmetric tensile ductility and impact energy in the through-thickness testing direction for tensile-strength levels at or below 1410 MPa (205 ksi), but not at 1960 MPa (285 ksi). Impact energy was also improved in the transverse testing direction but only for tensile strength levels at or below 1210 MPa (175 ksi). Changes in the volume fraction or shape of the sulfide inclusions had little or no effect on transition temperature. Plane-strain tensile ductility was much less affected than either axisymmetric tensile ductility or impact energy by changes in inclusion morphology or in testing direction because of the formation of macroscopic shear bands inclined at about 45 deg to the tensile axis. As a result impact energy correlated better with axisymmetric tensile ductility than with plane-strain tensile ductility. The results are discussed in terms of various models involving the formation of voids at inclusion sites and their growth and eventual coalescence by localized shear during plastic straining.     

Inclusion-controlled fatigue properties of 1800 MPA-class spring steels

Fatigue tests were conducted on a series of 1800 MPa-class spring steels whose fatigue properties were inclusion controlled. The fatigue tests were conducted on billets and on hot-rolled bars, taking into account the elongation of the oxide-type composite inclusions that were deformed during hot rolling, i.e., controlled inclusions. Anisotropy of the fatigue properties due to the slender shape of the elongated inclusions was also discussed. Fatigue tests were then conducted for both the rolling direction (RD) and transverse direction (TD) in the case of the billets. The fatigue test results in the RD showed a slight difference between billets and bars. The inclusions that were deformed during hot rolling were sufficiently elongated, even for the billet specimens, and differences in the effective inclusion sizes between the billets and their hot-rolled bars for the RD were small. However, there were marked differences in fatigue strength between the RD and TD in the billet specimens: the fatigue strength was almost half in the TD due to the presence of fish-eye fractures originating in large and slender MnS inclusions. In these fatigue tests, the two types of deformable inclusions revealed remarkably different effects on fatigue strength: the deformable oxide-type inclusions never caused fish-eye fracture, although the MnS inclusions found in the billets were extremely detrimental to fatigue strength when stress was applied in the TD.     

Fatigue Resistance of HPS-485 W (70 W) Welded Butt-Splice Connections Using Narrow Gap Improved Electroslag Welding

The writers investigated the performance of narrow gap improved electroslag weld (NGI-ESW) procedures in welded butt splices using high-performance steel grade HPS-485 W (70 W) through comparison against similar specimens fabricated using submerged arc welding (SAW). Five NGI-ESW and five SAW specimens were tested in fatigue at very high stress ranges, and all achieved run-out at or above 2 million cycles. Two each of the specimens created using SAW and NGI-ESW were tested an additional 3 million cycles; the NGI-ESW specimens did not experience fracture, whereas one SAW specimen failed in the base metal and another completed the additional cycles without failure. All intact specimens were statically tested to failure and results were compared. All 10 specimens performed considerably better than predicted by the AASHTO (2007) fatigue life equation. The NGI-ESW specimens performed at least as well as the SAW specimens under fatigue and static testing, suggesting that inclusion of the NGI-ESW process in AWS D1.5 may be appropriate when used with HPS-485 W (70 W). Additionally, testing supports extension of current code provisions to the use of NGI-ESW in fracture-critical applications.     

Theoretical Conversions of Different Hardness and Tensile Strength for Ductile Materials Based on Stress–Strain Curves

Based on the power-law stress–strain relation and equivalent energy principle, theoretical equations for converting between Brinell hardness (HB), Rockwell hardness (HR), and Vickers hardness (HV) were established. Combining the pre-existing relation between the tensile strength (σ _b ) and Hollomon parameters (K, N), theoretical conversions between hardness (HB/HR/HV) and tensile strength (σ _b ) were obtained as well. In addition, to confirm the pre-existing σ _b -(K, N) relation, a large number of uniaxial tensile tests were conducted in various ductile materials. Finally, to verify the theoretical conversions, plenty of statistical data listed in ASTM and ISO standards were adopted to test the robustness of the converting equations with various hardness and tensile strength. The results show that both hardness conversions and hardness-strength conversions calculated from the theoretical equations accord well with the standard data.     

Hydrogen Softening in the Thin Plate of Microcrystalline 316L Stainless Steel

The thin‐plate specimen of 316L austenite stainless steel was charged with hydrogen using a cathodic charging technique. Despite the short diffusion distance of hydrogen predicted by the diffusion‐controlled model for a semi‐infinite sheet, the Vickers hardness measurements revealed the full effect of hydrogen in the center of the cross‐sections of thin‐plate specimens as well as in the vicinity of the outer surfaces, which appears to be due to the short‐circuit diffusion mechanism along the grain boundaries. The room‐temperature tensile properties of both undeformed and deformed (20, 40%) samples were examined and compared. Hydrogen softening was apparent in both types of samples. For example, the 40% deformed sample showed an approximately 17 and 7% lower yield and tensile strength, respectively, after H charging at a strain rate of 2 × 10^?4 s^?1 with a concomitant decrease in ductility compared to that without H.