ELSEVIER Materials Science and Engineering A234G236 (1997) 393-396

Calculation method for the fatigue limit of parts of case hardened

steels
H. Bomas *, P. Mayr, M. Schleicher
Stiftung Institut fir Werkstofftechnik, Badgasteiner StraJe 3, D-28359 Bremen, Germany
Received 31 January 1997
Abstract
Based on the weakest link concept a method is developed, from which the survival probability of every surface and volume
element of a case hardened part, which is loaded near the fatigue limit, can be calculated. Prerequisite of the calculation is the
knowledge of the hardness and residual stress distribution, the surface roughness, and the surface oxidation depth. By
multiplication of the survival probabilities of neighboured elements the survival probability of a limited region or of the whole
part can be calculated, which includes a fatigue limit determination. It is shown, that this method can be applied successfully to
unnotched specimens of case hardened steels. The necessary calculation parameters can be gained from a set of reference parts.
Because of the possibility to formulate a survival probability for every volume and surface element, there are no geometrical
restrictions to the parts which shall be calculated. 0 1997 Elsevier Science S.A.
Keywords: Case hardening; Fatigue limit; Calculation; Weakest link concept
1. Introduction
The here presented calculation method for the fatigue
limit of parts of case hardened steel is based on the
weakest link concept which was developed by Weibull
[l] for the strength of brittle materials and later trans-
ferred to fatigue behaviour by Heckel and co-workers
[2-61. The principles of this concept were also applied
to the calculation of the fatigue limit of homogeneous
materials by several other authors [7-lo]. Only a few
people showed the physical nature of the weakest links
and the correlation between their size distribution and
the fracture probability [ll]. The application of the
weakest link concept to inhomogeneous materials like
case hardened steel is new and needs additional devel-
opments considering different crack initiation mecha-
nisms and the role of local strength and residual
stresses.
* Corresponding author. Tel.: + 49 421 2185350; fax: + 49 421
2185333; e-mail bomas@iwt.uni-bremen.de
0921-5093/97/$17.00 0 1997 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.
PIISO921-5093(97)00159-7
2. Calculation principles
The failure of case hardened parts under loading near
the fatigue limit is a problem of crack initiation. This is
the condition under which the weakest link concept can
be applied to describe fatigue failure. Two main sites of
fatigue crack initiation and different reasons have to be
considered in case hardened parts:
l crack initiation at the surface (A) due to surface
roughness (R) or due to surface oxidation (SO)
l crack initiation in the volume (v>
According to the rules of probability mathematics,
the survival probability P, of a case hardened part can
be calculated as the product of the survival probabili-
ties of the surface P,(A) and the volume P,(V):
ps = Ps(A).Ps(V (1)
The weakest link concept is based on the assumption
that material strength is determined by bulk or surface
imperfections which are equally distributed in the
stressed region. Fracture is caused by the weakest link,
which means the worst imperfection with respect to
crack initiation. Thus, the fracture probability near the
394 H. Bomas et al. /Materials Science and Engineering A234-236 (1997) 393-396
Table 1
Specimen data (cs = surface carbon content, xc = case depth)
Specimen
A
B
V
w
X
Hl
H2
H3
VE
Material charge
I
II
III
IV
Rz (w) xso (w-4
7.8 5
1.8 0
2.2 0
1.6 0
1.4 0
1.0 0
2.0 0
1.0 0
cs (x3)
-yc (mm)
0.70 0.8
0.66 0.8
0.70 0.6
0.82 0.6
0.55 0.5
0.8 0.59
0.65 0.9
0.96 1.5
1.06 1.5
0.9 1.0
Loading
RB
PP
PB
R=O
PP
Fatigue limit (N/mm-*)
Experiment Calculation
823 Reference
1011 962
1032 1030
1045 1009
1007 Reference
501 469
473 490
593 Reference
617 553
586 536
fatigue limit is not only a function of the load level but
also of the size of the stressed region. Therefore, every
volume element A V and every surface element AA has a
survival probability which depends on the size of the
element, the local equivalent stress amplitude gDv, and
the local zero mean stress uniaxial fatigue limit gw. It can
be described as follows:
Surface:
P,(AA) = 2 -
(A~i.%)(qmqva ImA
Volume:
(2)
Ps(AV)=2-
(A V: VO)((~DV,~V VI
(3)
This is principally a Weibull description, but has the
advantage that it works with fatigue limits gWA and a,,
according to a fracture probability of 50%. A, and V, are
the area and volume, which the surface fatigue limit gWA,
and the volume fatigue limit cow, refer to. For easier
calculation, values of A,, = 1 mm* and V, = 1 mm3 are
chosen in the next chapter. cDV is the equivalent stress
amplitude according to the Dang Van criterion, a high
cycle fatigue criterion which can be applied to any
multiaxial stress-time history [12]. In the present context,
the fatigue limit can be described by two stress parame-
ters: z,, the maximum shear stress amplitude, and the
maximum hydrostatic stress pmax during one cycle, which
depends on the principal stresses:
pmax = l/3 max(0, + o2 + ~7~)
(4)
The Dang Van criterion describes the regions of failure
and survival in the za -pmax plane which are separated
from each other by the following straight line:
z, + ap,,, = b (5)
The parameters a and b can be determined by the
measurement of the fatigue limits under two loading
conditions. If this is done under push-pull (R = - 1) and
repeated pull (R = 0), the slope a can be expressed with
the mean stress sensitivity after Schi.itz [ 131:
3 A4
a=2l-M
(6)
Now, the equivalent stress amplitude for unnotched
specimens under uniaxial load with the local stress
amplitude ga and stable principle residual stresses grl, oE2,
and or3 can be written as:
g,,V = ga + hf(a, + grl + flr2 + a,,)
(7)
M can be deduced from the local Vickers hardness HV
and a parameter H,, which has to be fitted from reference
specimens:
M = (HV - E&)/867
(8)
The local fatigue limits are, following Murakami [14],
supposed to be proportional to the Vickers hardness plus
120 HV:
Surface:
oWA = FA (HV + 120) Y, Ys,
Volume:
(9)
owv= F,(HV + 120)
(10)
The coefficients FA and F, can be determined with
reference specimens.
Y, is the surface roughness coefficient according to the
German standard DIN 3990 which depends on the mean
surface roughness R, (DIN 4768):
Y, = 1.490 - 0.471 (R, + l).
(11)
Following Melander and Preston [ 151, the effect of
surface oxidation on the fatigue limit can be character-
Table 2
Calculation parameters
F* mA -u, (W F mv HO
3.675 21 3.1 1.375 25 293
H. Bomas et al. /Materials Science and Engineering A234-236 (1997) 393-396 395
400 600 800 1000
Measured Fatigue Limit [N/mm21
1200
Fig. 1. Measured and calculated fatigue limits of case hardened,
unnotched specimens under rotating bending, push-pull and plane
bending.
ized by an equivalent short or long crack, depending on
its depth xso and a fit parameter x0. Considering this, a
factor Yso after Topper and El Haddad [16] is used to
describe the effect of surface oxidation:
y,,= x,
J--- x0 + Go
(12)
The Weibull exponents mA and m, are determined by
reference specimens.
By multiplication of the survival probabilities of
neighboured elements, the survival probability of lim-
ited regions or of the whole part can be calculated. The
fatigue limit is the nominal stress amplitude with the
total survival probability 0.5.
3. Application to unnotched, case hardened specimens
In order to study the described method with easy
calculations procedures, it was applied to unnotched,
case hardened specimens of two steel grades under
rotating bending (RB), plane bending (PB), and push-
pull loading (PP) including different mean stresses and
different case hardening processes. Table 1 shows the
most important data of the examined specimens from
the steels 16MnCr5 and 16MnCrS5 (steels for case
hardening after German standard DIN 17 210), which
have partially been published before.
The specimens of charge I are cylindric with a net
diameter of 6 mm. The material is 16MnCrS5. The
specimens A and X were chosen as reference because A
exhibits crack initiation at the surface and X shows
crack initiation in the volume. The specimens of charge
II [17] are also cylindric with a net diameter of 12 mm.
The material is 16MnCr5. The specimens of charge III
[18] are bars with rectangular cross section and were
loaded by plane bending with a stress ratio R = 0. The
bending height is 17 mm. Specimen H2 was taken as
additional reference in order to determine the parame-
ter Ho describing the mean stress sensitivity. The speci-
mens of charge IV [19] are cylindric with a net diameter
of 12 mm. The steel is 16MnCrS5.
The hardness and residual stress distribution of all
specimens is known, so that the survival probability
could be calculated. The calculation parameters de-
scribed in chapter 2 were optimized until the calculated
and measured fatigue limits of the reference specimens
were identical. Table 2 shows the optimized parameters,
which were used to calculate the fatigue limits shown in
Table 1 and Fig. 1. It can be seen, that the involved
effects on the fatigue limit of the examined unnotched
specimens, concerning their manufacturing, geometry,
and loading, are well described by the presented calcu-
lation method. Further work will show the applicability
of this method to notched specimens.
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