This paper presents the results of torsion fatigue of widely used bearing steels (through hardening with bainite, martensite heat treatments, and case hardened). An MTS torsion fatigue test rig (TFTR) was modified with custom mechanical grips and used to evaluate torsional fatigue life and failure mechanism of bearing steel specimen. Tests were conducted on the TFTR to determine the ultimate strength in shear (Sus) and stress cycle (S-N) results. Evaluation of the fatigue specimens in the high cycle regime indicates shear driven crack initiation followed by normal stress driven propagation, resulting in a helical crack pattern. A 3D finite element model was then developed to investigate fatigue damage in torsion specimen and replicate the observed fatigue failure mechanism for crack initiation and propagation. In the numerical model, continuum damage mechanics (CDM) were employed in a randomly generated 3D Voronoi tessellated mesh of the specimen to provide unstructured, nonplanar, interelement, and inter/transgranular paths for fatigue damage accumulation and crack evolution as observed in micrographs of specimen. Additionally, a new damage evolution procedure was implemented to capture the change in fatigue failure mechanism from shear to normal stress assisted crack growth. The progression of fatigue failure and the stress-life results obtained from the fatigue damage model are in good agreement with the experimental results. The fatigue damage model was also used to assess the influence of topological microstructure randomness accompanied by material inhomogeneity and defects on fatigue life dispersion.
Nonmetallic inclusions such as sulfides and oxides are byproducts of the steel manufacturing process. For more than half a century, researchers have observed microstructural alterations around the inclusions commonly referred to as “butterfly wings.” This paper proposes a model to describe butterfly wing formation around nonmetallic inclusions. A 2D finite element model is developed to obtain the stress distribution in a domain subject to Hertzian loading with an embedded nonmetallic inclusion. It was found that mean stress due to surface traction has a significant effect on butterfly formation. Continuum damage mechanics (CDM) was used to investigate fatigue damage and replicate the observed butterfly wing formations. It is postulated that cyclic damage accumulation can be the reason for the microstructural changes in butterflies. A new damage evolution equation, which accounts for the effect of mean stresses, was introduced to capture the microstructural changes in the material. The proposed damage evolution law matches experimentally observed butterfly orientation, shape, and size successfully. The model is used to obtain S-N results for butterfly formation at different Hertzian load levels. The results corroborate well with the experimental data available in the open literature. The model is used to predict debonding at the inclusion/matrix interface and the most vulnerable regions for crack initiation on butterfly sides. The proposed model is capable of predicting the regions of interest in corroboration with experimental observations.
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