Abstract. The mechanisms behind residual stress generation have been a topic of interest for quite some time since it is well-known that residual stresses can benefit the fatigue life of components. We have studied the residual stresses in lamellar graphite iron generated by fatigue damage. Cylindrical test specimens, with close to zero residual stresses of fully pearlitic lamellar graphite iron, manufactured and subjected to uniaxial load controlled cyclic loading, have been investigated. The load conditions used were: pure tension, pure compression, and alternating tension/compression over one thousand cycles. Measurements were performed using a four-circle goniometer Seifert X-ray machine equipped with a linear sensitive detector and a Cr-tube. Evaluation of the residual stresses were conducted using the sin²-method on the -Fe {211} diffraction peak together with material removal technique to obtain depth profiles.
IntroductionIt is well known that compressive residual stresses (RS) at the surface of a specimen prolongs the fatigue life. The associated increase in strain hardening of the surface, can be equally important for the specimen fatigue life since the combination of strain and compressive RS at the surface of the sample inhibits crack nucleation and propagation. Steels, aluminium, titanium, and nickel alloys are some of the metallic materials in which work hardening at the surface can result in compressive RS and increased fatigue strength of the material [1,2]. These homogenous metallic material withstand considerable plastic deformation before final fracture compared to cast iron, especially lamellar graphite iron (LGI) which has an inhomogeneous microstructure. Lamellar graphite iron plasticises already at tensile loads ~ 40 MPa [3]. Graphite acts as notches all over the specimen volume and is the reason for its poor tensile strength.Relaxation of near surface RS due to cyclic loading are a well-known phenomenon. Local plastic deformations (microcracks) as well as pinning and un-pinning of dislocations are believed to be a source of stress relaxation [2,[4][5][6]. Residual stress relaxation mechanisms due to cyclic loading are affected by the initial magnitude of the RS, the gradient of RS, degree of cold work, cyclic loading and material response to cyclic loading [1]. In a multiphase material, such as pearlitic LGI, the different response of the phases to cyclic loading can render a measurable shift in RS in one of the phases. In this study, we have three phases (ferrite, cementite, lamellar graphite) but only the stresses in the ferritic phase, which has the largest volume fraction in the material, are measured with laboratory X-rays, since diffraction peaks for the other phases can not be obtained.In multiphase materials, such as duplex steels, the different phases are known to have different amounts of RS and often also different signs on the stresses [7][8][9]. During cooling and solidification, the differences in volume contraction between phases gives a thermal mismatch, resulting in RS....