The influence of piston shape on air‐spring fatigue life

This paper presents how the piston shape of an air‐spring can influence both its load‐deflection characteristic and the fatigue life. Two piston shapes are considered in this study for which load‐deflection characteristics and fatigue lives are compared. A method for the estimation of air‐spring fatigue life is upgraded by adding the influence of the mean stress level and afterwards used together with finite element analysis to predict the fatigue life and, ultimately, the timing and global location of failure within the air‐spring. These predictions are then compared with measured results and show good agreement thus proving the validity of the method used here for calculating fatigue life. Both experimental and predicted results show that the highest fatigue life can be expected if a noncylindrical, back tapered piston is used. This is only the case if the air‐spring is mounted at its optimal design height as the study also shows that moving away from optimal design height does have a detrimental effect on the fatigue life of back tapered air‐springs. This is due to the appearance of higher stress amplitudes in the flex member during operation. Such stress amplitudes and consequently fatigue damage can be reduced by avoiding sharp transitions in the piston design that cause additional bending of the flex member in a direction opposite to the deflection in the flex member fold.     

Experimental Study of Distortion Phenomena in Manufacturing Chains

The influence and significance of several process parameters in a manufacturing chain of cylindrical bearing rings made of steel SAE 52100 (100Cr6) on the quench hardening distortion were identified using the method of Design of Experiments (DoE) and a statistical analysis of the results. The change in out‐of‐roundness can be explained by the used clamping technique during turning, which led to characteristic residual stress distributions in circumferential direction. Size alterations were smaller and depended also on clamping (height) resp. on clamping and an interaction of clamping and feed (radius). Other investigated factors like stirring during continuous casting, deformation ratio during forging and cooling after forging did not significantly influence shape or size changes. Density measurement was found to be a simple and effective method, to check size changes. The results confirm the necessity of concerning the whole manufacturing chain, to understand and influence heat treatment distortion. DoE has been proven to be a useful tool in this way.     

Influence of surface integrity on fatigue strength of 40CrNi2Si2MoVA steel

Influence of surface integrity (including surface roughness, residual stresses, and microstructure in surface) on fatigue limit of 40CrNi2Si2MoVA steel specimens is investigated comprehensively in this work according to a systematic consideration. The surface integrity of specimens is changed due to several widely used manufacturing procedures: heat-treatment, grinding, electro-polishing, hard chromium plating and shot peening. In comparison with specimen electro-polished after grinding, the specimen without polishing has 10% lower fatigue limit due to higher surface roughness; while shot peening improves the fatigue limit for about 36% due to inducing of compressive residual stress field in the surface and transferring the fatigue crack source from surface to interior. The fatigue limit of specimen with decarburized layer after grinding is lower about 13%, but the shot peening can eliminate its detrimental effect. Hard chromium plating decreases the fatigue limit dramatically. The shot peening carried before plating can improve the fatigue limit of specimen and cause it to get to a level even higher than that of specimen without plating.     

Erprobungsmethodik für zyklisch überelastisch beanspruchte Bauteile unter Torsion – Bauschinger‐Kenngrößen für 54SiCr6

Power transmission contains several torsion‐stressed parts. Especially shafts and springs are numerous considered. Helical springs as a special type of springs are mainly stressed by torsion load. During operation the spring's load is basically elastic. In some cases, like overload or machine disaster, the load exceeds the spring's yield stress. For a single event the deformations can be calculated easily by using flow charts. However in other cases the spring will be stressed several times with alternating plastic load. Therefore the calculation will not be as easy as in the single load case. Especially the hardening and softening mechanisms have major influence on material behavior. For high strength steel this material behavior is not fully investigated right now. Present article shows a way how to investigate several important Bauschinger parameters based on plastic torsion load for the high strength steel 54SiCr6. Finally it can be shown that 54SiCr6 is influenced by the Bauschinger effect. On the other hand the needed material characteristic can be investigated by the shown methodology. Based on the identified data, analytical and numerical calculation of alternating plastic torsion load can be done.     

Enhancement of the mechanical properties of EN52CrMoV4 spring steel by deep cryogenic treatment

The effect of the deep cryogenic treatment on the micro-structure and mechanical properties (tensile strength, toughness, residual stress and fatigue strength) of the medium carbon spring steel, which is subjected to different heat treatment steps, is investigated. Deep cryogenic treatment causes spring steel to keep compressive residual stress more efficiently due to an increase in the density of the crystalline defects, retardation in the stress relief after the phase transformations and nano-cluster carbide formations. If deep cryogenic treatment is applied before the tempering then the homogeneously distributed fine carbides form after the tempering and the grains remain relatively fine. The microstructure with homogeneously distributed fine carbides and fine grains cause spring steels to have simultaneously enhanced tensile strength, ductility and fatigue strength. If deep cryogenic treatment is applied after the conventional heat treatment (quenching+tempering), however, the coarse carbides form in the micro-structure and the improvement in the mechanical properties of the spring steel is limited.     

不锈钢拉簧断裂失效分析

某304不锈钢拉簧在疲劳试验过程中发生了断裂。通过宏观形貌分析、金相显微组织分析、化学成分分析及扫描电镜微观形貌分析等方法,对发生断裂的不锈钢拉簧进行了失效原因分析。结果表明:拉簧表面制造过程中产生的划伤是造成该不锈钢拉簧发生疲劳断裂的根本原因。     

Design and failure modes of automotive suspension springs

This paper is a discussion about automotive suspension coil springs, their fundamental stress distribution, materials characteristic, manufacturing and common failures. An in depth discussion on the parameters influencing the quality of coil springs is also presented.

Following the trend of the auto industry to continuously achieve weight reduction, coil springs are not exempt. A consequence of the weight reduction effort is the need to employ spring materials with significantly larger stresses compared to similar designs decades ago. Utilizing a higher strength of steel possesses both advantages and disadvantages. The advantages include the freedom to design coil springs at higher levels of stress and more complex stresses. Disadvantages of employing materials with higher levels of stress come from the stresses themselves. A coil’s failure to perform its function properly can be more catastrophic than if the coil springs are used in lower stress. As the stress level is increased, material and manufacturing quality becomes more critical. Material cleanliness that was not a major issue decades ago now becomes significant. Decarburization that was not a major issue in the past now becomes essential.

To assure that a coil spring serves its design, failure analysis of broken coil springs is valuable both for the short and long term agenda of car manufacturer and parts suppliers. This paper discusses several case studies of suspension spring failures. The failures presented range from the very basic including insufficient load carrying capacity, raw material defects such as excessive inclusion levels, and manufacturing defects such as delayed quench cracking, to failures due to complex stress usage and chemically induced failure. FEA of stress distributions around typical failure initiation sites are also presented.     

Fatigue assessment and failure analysis of shot‐peened leaf springs

The paper deals with the fatigue and failure analysis of serial shot‐peened leaf springs of heavy trucks emphasizing on the influence of thermal treatment and shot peening on fatigue life. Experimental stress–life curves are determined by investigating smooth specimens subjected to fully reversed rotating bending conditions. These test results are compared to corresponding ones determined from cyclic three‐point bend tests on shot‐peened serial leaf springs in order to reveal the influence of the applied thermal treatment and shot peening process on the fatigue life of the high‐strength steel used for leaf spring manufacturing, dependent on the load level. Microstructure, macro‐ and micro‐hardness analyses are performed to support the analyses and explain the effects resulting from the certain shot peening process on the surface properties of the high‐strength spring steel under investigation. The assessment of the fatigue results reveals nearly no life improvement due to the manufacturing, emphasizing the necessity for mutual adjustment of shot peening and thermal treatment parameters to take account for life improvement.     

Manufacturing Residual Stress States in Heat Treatment Simulation of Bearing Rings

Residual stresses generated in the different steps of a manufacturing chain are attached great importance to the distortion due to heat treatment. Because the measurement of residual stress states is associated with large experimental work, the use of simulation would be qualified for the examination of the influence of manufacturing residual stresses on distortion. Due to this reason, a simple method for generating realistic residual stress states by the use of artificial thermal strain in a pre‐simulation step is presented. By changing the thermal strain distributions a wide range of residual stress distributions in a component can be generated. A typical residual stress distribution after machining was generated in a bearing ring. The calculated residual stress profile was in good agreement compared to XRD‐measurement. In a second simulation step the local development of stress relieving during heating was observed. Stress relieving can be attributed to local plastic deformation and rearrangement of stresses.     

Technical note High-cycle fatigue crack initiation and propagation behaviour of high-strength sprin steel wires

An attempt has been made to characterize high-cycle fatigue behaviour of high-strength spring steel wire by means of an ultrasonic fatigue test and analytical techniques. Two kinds of induction-tempered ultra-high-strength spring steel wire of 6.5 mm in diameter with a tensile strength of 1800 MPa were used in this investigation.
The fatigue strength of the steel wires between 10⁶ and 10⁹ cycles was determined at a load ratio R = −1. The experimental results show that fatigue rupture can occur beyond 10⁷ cycles. For Cr–V spring wire, the stress–life ( S – N ) curve becomes horizontal at a maximum stress of 800 MPa after 10⁶ cycles, but the S – N curve of the Cr–Si steel continues to drop at a high number of cycles (>10⁶ cycles) and does not exhibit a fatigue limit, which is more correctly described by a fatigue strength at a given number of cycles. By using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), the crack initiation and propagation behaviour have been examined. Experimental and analytical techniques were developed to better understand and predict high-cycle fatigue life in terms of crack initiation and propagation. The results show that the portion of fatigue life attributed to crack initiation is more than 90% in the high-cycle regime for the steels studied in this investigation.     

某电传操纵系统弹簧拉杆可调叉形接头断裂原因

某飞机电传操纵系统弹簧拉杆可调叉形接头在运行过程中发生断裂,通过宏微观分析和金相检验等方法对拉杆接头的断裂原因进行了分析。结果表明:拉杆接头断裂为疲劳断裂,断裂的根本原因是其显微组织不均匀的同时出现了魏氏组织,使接头的抗疲劳性能严重降低,导致疲劳裂纹的萌生与扩展;而拉杆的受力不均匀则加速了其疲劳裂纹的扩展。     

70钢拉簧氢脆断裂失效分析

对７０钢拉簧在制造及使用过程中出现的失效断裂特征做了分析，结果表明，拉簧断裂是电镀过程吸氢导弹的氢脆断裂，对此，提出了改进措施。     

Experimental investigation on the effects of process parameters of GMAW and transient thermal analysis of AISI321 steel

Gas metal arc welding (GMAW) develops an arc by controlling the metal from the wire rod and the input process parameters. The deposited metal forms a weld bead and themechanical properties depend upon the quality of the weld bead. Proper control of the process parameters which affect the bead geometry, the microstructures of the weldments and the mechanical properties like hardness, is necessary. This experimental study aims at developing mathematical models for bead height (HB), bead width (WB) and bead penetration (PB) and investigating the effects of four process parameters
viz: welding voltage, welding speed, wire feed rate and gas flow rate on bead geometry, hardness and microstructure of AISI321 steel with 10 mm thickness. The transient thermal analysis shows temperature and residual stress distributions at different conduction and convection conditions.     

55CrSi钢气门弹簧断裂原因分析

采用化学成分分析、金相检验和硬度测试等方法对Ф3．6mm55CrSi钢气门弹簧在台架试验中的断裂原因进行分析。结果表明：由于钢丝表面存在的脆性非金属夹杂物,导致气门弹簧在试验时出现早期疲劳断裂。     

Influence of residual stresses in the stress relaxation of cold drawn wires

This study demonstrates the influence of residual stresses in steel wires on the stress relaxation losses. Standard stress relaxation tests were performed on four types of wire, all with the same mechanical properties but with different residual stresses. Surface residual stresses were measured by X-ray diffraction. The experimental results show that stress relaxation losses decrease as the value of surface tensile residual stresses decrease. The role, sometimes controversial, of initial pre-stretching and heat treatments on stress relaxation losses can also be understood in the light of the residual stresses induced during cold-drawing.     

Cruciform fillet welded joint fatigue strength improvements by weld metal phase transformations

Arc welding typically generates residual tensile stresses in welded joints, leading to deteriorated fatigue performance of these joints. Volume expansion of the weld metal at high temperatures followed by contraction during cooling induces a local tensile residual stress state. A new type of welding wire capable of inducing a local compressive residual stress state by means of controlled martensitic transformation at relatively low temperatures has been studied, and the effects of the transformation temperature and residual stresses on fatigue strength are discussed. In this study, several LTTW (Low Transformation‐Temperature Welding) wires have been developed and investigated to better characterize the effect of phase transformation on residual stress management in welded joints. Non‐load‐carrying cruciform fillet welded joints were prepared for measurement of residual stresses and fatigue testing. The measurement of the residual stresses of the three designed wires reveals a compressive residual stress near the weld toe. The fatigue properties of the new wires are enhanced compared to a commercially available wire.     

Fatigue strength of spring steel with small scratches

In compression coil springs subjected to cyclic load, fatigue cracks can sometimes initiate and propagate from scratch‐like small defects produced during the manufacturing process and degrade the fatigue strength. In this study, torsional and rotating bending fatigue tests were conducted to examine the fatigue behavior of a high‐strength spring steel (JIS G 3561, SWOSC‐V) in the presence of small scratches. The sensitivity of the HCF and VHCF strength to small scratches was evaluated based on the parameter model.     

Correlation of surface features with corrosion behaviors of interstitial free steel processed by temper rolling

Temper rolling,as a final manufacturing procedure,brings the change of surface features and hence affects the corrosion behaviors of interstitial-free(IF)steel.This study investigates changes in residual stress,microstructure,and surface topography of IF steel using X-ray diffraction,electron backscatter diffraction,and optical interferometric microscopy.And the synthetic influence of surface features on the corrosion process of the steel was evaluated by damp heat tests and electrochemical measurements.Results showed that low tensile and compressive residual stresses are introduced to the surface of the IF steel.Some grains had a grain orientation spread(GOS)value greater than 0.50 after temper rolling.Moreover,temper rolling caused a slight change in the surface profile of the IF steel.The compressive residual stress had an overwhelming role at the macroscopic level,in retarding the corrosion evolution process of IF steel,as well as in decreasing the average corrosion rate.And corrosion was more likely to initiate and propagate in matrices with a high GOS value,which played the determinant role at the microscopic level.Moreover,the depth of valley in the surface profile could affect the diffusion process involved in the electrode reactions,which was more likely to exert an extra influence on the corrosion rate of IF steel.     

钢帘线残余扭转在线监测及自动消除控制系统设计

钢帘线在捻制的过程中会产生残余扭转,导致钢帘线在捻制完成后沿捻制相反的方向出现不同程度的回转,严重影响钢帘线的使用性能。为了减小钢丝捻制过程中出现的残余扭转,设计了钢帘线残余扭转在线监测及自动消除控制系统。利用西门子S7-200系列PLC（programmable logic controller,可编程逻辑控制器）对控制系统的软件和硬件进行合理配置,并详细阐述了系统的硬件和软件设计。采用台达DOP系列的触摸屏,实现钢帘线残余扭转在线实时监测的功能。该设备整机性能稳定,实现了残余扭转的控制与消除,满足生产线高柔性化、高效率、高质量的自动化生产要求。     

钛合金疲劳试样加工残余应力的表征及其对低周疲劳寿命的影响

目的 探究钛合金TC4低周疲劳试样加工过程中残余应力的变化及残余应力对低周疲劳寿命的影响.方法 采用X射线衍射法分别对车、磨、抛后的试样进行表面残余应力的表征,分析加工工艺对其的影响,利用液压伺服万能试验机进行低周疲劳试验,分析其表面残余应力对寿命的影响.结果 经过粗车、精车、磨削、纵抛,试样加工表面的残余应力不断减小...