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Patricio Fernando Mendez
University of Alberta
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2006-01-0896
ABSTRACT
The effects of several variables on pitting fatigue life of
carburized steels were analyzed using a geared roller
test machine (GRTM). The material variables that were
primarily used to influence retained austenite include
aim surface carbon concentration (0.8 % and 0.95 %),
alloy (SAE 4320 and a modified SAE 4122), and cold
treatment (performed on one material condition per
alloy). Testing variables included contact stress in
addition to a variation in lambda ratio (oil film
thickness/surface roughness), arising from variation in
roughness among the machined surfaces. Test results
are presented, and differences in performance are
considered in terms of material and testing variables. A
primary observation from these results is an
improvement in contact fatigue resistance apparently
arising from cold-treatment and the associated reduction
of retained austenite at the surface.
INTRODUCTION
Fatigue behavior of carburized gear steels has been
examined extensively in the past (1). Specifically,
bending fatigue of these steels has been a primary area
of research, and carburizing treatments have been
developed to increase the bending fatigue resistance of
gear steels. Contact fatigue is an important failure
mechanism in some gears, and a better understanding
of the contact fatigue behavior of carburized gear steels
needs to be developed.
Many researchers have studied contact fatigue, although
most of the publicly available research has been in the
area of rolling contact fatigue. One reason that much
more research has been performed on rolling contact
fatigue is the relative simplicity of laboratory testing as
compared to the study of the fatigue under contact
conditions that occur in gear operation, i.e. combined
rolling and sliding. In contrast, pitting fatigue is often
Steel
Mn
Si
Cr
Ni
Mo Cu
Al
Fig. 1: Schematic
configuration.
illustration
of
GRTM
test
DATA NORMALIZATION
When a test was completed, the data were normalized
to remove the influence of variation in lambda ratio
among the test replicates (11). The life data were then
plotted against lambda ratio, and a straight line that fits
the data using the least squares method was drawn (Fig.
2). Based on the slope of the regression line, the
regressed life value at lambda = 0.4 was used to
represent equivalent life. This normalization process
allowed the equivalent contact fatigue life values to be
compared, yielding comparisons between test groups.
CARBURIZING
CARBURIZING AND POST-CARBURIZING CYCLES
Gas carburizing was performed on the test rollers with
an aim surface carbon of 0.95% (high surface C) or
0.80% (low surface C) using a commercial production
furnace. All carburizing cycles were performed at 927
C (1700 F) followed by a 30 minute equalize period at
840 C (1544 F). The quench was performed in oil held
at 47C (117 F) with full agitation for 15 minutes. One
of the 0.95 % C aim surface carbon conditions also
included a four hour cold treatment at 80 C (-112 F)
after quenching. All the test rollers were then tempered
at 150 C (302 F) for 2 hours. The target case depth
was 1-1.2 mm.
CARBURIZING RESULTS
Several methods were used to characterize the results
of the carburizing process. Step bars (carburized bars
that have layers removed for carbon profile analysis of a
cycle) were included to determine the case carbon
profile. The step bar analysis provided near surface
carbon content at a given measured depth (Table 2).
Due to a smaller step bar diameter, the high surface C
Aim SCC
ColdTreat
4320
4320
4320
4122 M
4122 M
4122 M
0.95%
0.95%
0.80%
0.95%
0.95%
0.80%
Yes
No
No
Yes
No
No
Carbon
Content
wt. %
0.84%
0.84%
0.73%
0.91%
0.91%
--
4320
0.80%
Depth
(mm)
Depth of
Measure
(mm)
0.0457
0.0457
0.0146
0.0108
0.0108
--
0.95%
Cold
As Carb As Carb
Treat
0.80%
0.95%
Cold
As Carb As Carb
Treat
0.2
64.8
64
66.2
62.7
63.3
65.8
0.3
64.4
64.6
65.9
62.8
63
66.3
0.4
64.7
64.2
64.8
62.7
62.9
65
0.5
63.6
64.6
64.3
62.3
62.8
64.6
0.6
62.5
64.4
64.2
60.7
62.9
64.1
0.7
62.4
63.8
62.6
58.8
62.1
62.8
0.8
59.9
62.5
61.3
58.1
60
60.4
0.9
58.1
60.5
58.5
55
57.3
56.6
56.3
57.1
55.1
54.2
54.8
54.3
1.1
53
54.4
53.6
51.2
52.2
51.3
1.2
51.9
51.4
50.8
49.9
50.2
50.1
1.3
49.1
50.8
50.1
49
49
48.8
4122 M
4122 M Cold
4320
4320 Cold
64
0.6
Hardness (HRC)
68
High Surface C
Low Surface C
0.8
0.4
0.2
60
56
52
0
0
0.4
0.8
1.2
1.6
Depth (mm)
48
0.4
0.8
1.2
1.6
Depth (mm)
4320
High C
Cold
Treat
As Carb
Low C
As Carb
High C
Cold
Treat
As Carb
0
.074-.093
0.12
0.27
0.14
0.36
0.07
0.06
0.13
0.19
0.17
0.28
0.05
0.09
.144-.177
.226-.247
0.23
0.12
0.29
0.20
0.06
0.03
0.22
0.16
0.28
0.21
0.08
0.06
.303-.313
0.11
0.14
0.05
0.09
0.18
0.04
RESULTS
CONTACT FATIGUE TESTING
After normalizing all of the data from tests run at 3.2
GPa to a lambda ratio of 0.4, the average of the
equivalent life values for each test group was obtained
and the results are summarized in Figure 5. There are
many factors that influence the fatigue life of these
samples, such as the use of different test machines and
sample holders, variation in proximity of the
thermocouple to the contact surface (which could cause
oil heating past the point of breakdown), and differences
in continuity of testing (many tests shut off several times
before failure and had to be restarted). Hence, small
differences in equivalent fatigue life are likely not
significant. From the results in Figure 6, it is clear that
cold-treatment is beneficial to the contact fatigue life of
both alloys for the high surface carbon condition. (Coldtreatment was not evaluated for low surface carbon
conditions.) The low surface C condition proved to be a
good heat treatment for the 4122 M alloy as it
significantly outperformed the high surface C condition.
7
6
5
4
4320
4122 M
2
1
0
High C
(Cold-Treat)
High C
Low C
High C
(Cold-Treat)
High C
Low C
Fig. 6: Comparison of average equivalent life from fatigue testing at a contact stress of 3.2 GPa.
DISCUSSION
The gas carburizing process yielded microstructures,
hardness profiles, and carbon profiles as expected. The
retained austenite measurements also yielded profiles
as expected, except that a higher retained austenite
fraction was not found to result from the higher Ni
content of the 4320 alloy. When analyzing the two
alloys with respect to the martensite transformation
behavior, an identical carbon profile for both alloys
would lead to an Ms temperature for the 4320 alloy about
16 C lower than that of the 4122 M alloy. This value is
obtained using the Andrews linear expression for Ms: Ms
(C) = 539 - 423 C 30.4 Mn 12.1 Cr 17.7 Ni 7.5
Mo (14). Table 5 shows a comparison of calculated and
measured retained austenite fractions.
The Ms
temperature for each material condition was calculated
using the Andrews linear expression. Although the Ms
temperature was expected to be 16 C lower for the
4320 relative to the 4122 M, the Ms temperatures were
actually much more similar because the carbon content
was slightly higher in the 4122 M than the 4320 at the
depth where measurements wer made. Tcold represents
the coldest temperature to which each material condition
was exposed, and the undercooling (T) is the
difference between the Ms temperature and Tcold. The
calculated RA value was determined from the Koistinen
and
Marburger
expression
for
the
athermal
transformation kinetics of martensite formation: f = 1
exp (-0.011T) where f is the fraction of martensite (14).
The similarity between calculated and measured
retained austenite fractions in Table 5 indicates that
4122 M
High C
High C
192 C
146 C
146 C
149 C
149 C
Tcold
20 C
20 C
-80 C
20 C
-80 C
172 C
126 C
226 C
129 C
229 C
Calc. RA
0.15
0.25
0.08
0.24
0.08
Actual RA
0.19
0.28
0.09
0.36
0.06
SUMMARY
The following conclusions and inferences can be drawn
from the results of this study:
Fig. 7: Wear track of tested roller superimposed on pretest surface scan of same test roller. The profile of this
wear track closely matches the crown of a load roller.
1.
2.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors acknowledge the support of the Advanced
Steel Processing and Products Research Center, a
NSF-Industry-University cooperative research center at
the Colorado School of Mines. The assistance of
Caterpillar Inc., and in particular Mike Shockley, Steven
Cross, and Scott Johnston is gratefully acknowledged
for lending significant support and guidance throughout
the project.
REFERENCES
1.
3.
4.
9.
10.
11.
12.
5.
6.
13.
14.
G. Krauss, Steels:
Heat Treatment and
Processing Principles, ASM International, 1990,
pp. 53-55.
7.
8.