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21st European Conference on Fracture, ECF21, 20-24 June 2016, Catania, Italy
21st European Conference on Fracture, ECF21, 20-24 June 2016, Catania, Italy
Failure analysis of a motor vehicle coil spring
XV PortugueseFailure analysis
Conference of PCF
on Fracture, a motor vehicle
2016, 10-12 coil2016,
February spring
Pao de Arcos, Portugal
Goran Vukelica,a,*, Marino Brcicbb
a
Thermo-mechanicalGoran
modeling
Vukelicof*,aMarino
high pressure
Brcic turbine blade of an
University of Rijeka, Faculty of Maritime Studies, Department of Marine Engineering and Ship Power Systems, Studentska 2, 51000 Rijeka,
a
b
airplane gas turbine engine
CroatiaEngineering and Ship Power Systems, Studentska 2, 51000 Rijeka,
University of Rijeka, Faculty of Maritime Studies, Department of Marine
University of Rijeka, Faculty of Engineering, Department Croatia
of Engineering Mechanics, Vukovarska 58, 51000 Rijeka, Croatia
b
University of Rijeka, Faculty of Engineering, Department of Engineering Mechanics, Vukovarska 58, 51000 Rijeka, Croatia
P. Brandoa, V. Infanteb, A.M. Deusc*
a
AbstractDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, Instituto Superior Tcnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Rovisco Pais, 1, 1049-001 Lisboa,
Abstract Portugal
b
IDMEC, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Instituto Superior Tcnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Rovisco Pais, 1, 1049-001 Lisboa,
Due to frequent failures of coil springs on a specific type of motor vehicle, analysis of possible causes of failures was performed.
Portugal
DuecCeFEMA,
to frequent
Analysis was done failures
on a of coil
single springs
coil springon a specific
removed type
from a of motor
vehicle
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Instituto Superior Tcnico, vehicle,
after analysis
failing of possible
in service.
Universidade Lisboa,causes
deBesides visual
Av. ofexamination
Rovisco failures
Pais, 1,was performed.
that revealed
1049-001 Lisboa,
Analysistowas
fracture done on aa single
happen coil spring
first bottom coil, removed from experimental
several other a vehicle aftertechniques
Portugal failing in service.
were usedBesides
in thevisual examination
failure that revealed
analysis. Using optical
fracture to happen
microscopy on aoffirst
evaluation thebottom coil, several other
basic microstructure of theexperimental techniques
fractured surface were usedand
was performed in the failureinclusions
possible analysis. distinguished.
Using optical
microscopy evaluation
Detailed scanning of themicroscopy
electron basic microstructure of the fractured
(SEM) examination surfacemagnifications
at suitable was performedwas andemployed
possible inclusions
to characterizedistinguished.
the fine
Abstract
Detailed scanning
microstructure electron
of the fracturedmicroscopy
surface and (SEM)
revealexamination
flaws that servedat suitable
as crack magnifications was Optical
initiation points. employed to characterize
emission spectrometer the with
fine
microstructure
glow dischargeofsourcethe fractured
(GDS) surface
sampleand reveal flaws
stimulation wasthatused served as crack initiation
to determine chemical points. Opticalofemission
composition materialspectrometer
used for spring with
During
glow
fabrication. their
discharge operation,
source
Additionally, modern
(GDS)
hardnesssampleaircraft
test was engine was
stimulation
performed. components
used results
Using are ofsubjected
to determine to increasingly
chemical
the performed composition
experimentaldemanding
of material
analysis, operating
used for
possible conditions,
spring
causes of
especially
fabrication.
failure the high pressure
wereAdditionally,
recognized. turbine
hardness
Several test(HPT)
wasamong
factors, blades.
performed.
themSuchUsingconditions
inherent results cause
of the
material these parts to
performed
defect combined undergo
experimental different
analysis,
with material types ofand
possible
fatigue time-dependent
causes by
helped of
degradation,
failure
insufficient one ofprotection,
werecorrosion
recognized. which is creep.
Several A failure
factors,
caused model
among using
of coilthe
them finiteObtained
inherent
spring. element
material method
defect
results (FEM)
arecombinedwas in
valuable developed,
with inbehaviour
material
predicting order
fatigueto beof able
and to predict
helped
coil by
springs
the creep
insufficient
mounted behaviour
in corrosion
other vehicles of of
HPT
protection, blades.type
the caused
same Flight
andofdata
failure records
coilbe
can spring. (FDR)
taken Obtained
as for a specific
results
a reference inare aircraft,
valuable
improving provided
in predicting
future by a commercial
design.behaviour
Further aviation
of coil springs
analysis would
company,
mountedemployingwere used
in other vehicles to obtain thermal
of the same type and mechanical
and can bestress data
takenlevels for three
as a reference different flight
in improving cycles. In
futurecoil order
design. to create
Further the 3D model
include finite element method to determine in undamaged and damaged spring along analysis would
with numerical
needed for the FEM analysis, a HPT blade scrap was scanned, and its chemical composition and material properties were
include employing
estimation of fatiguefinite
life. element method to determine stress levels in undamaged and damaged coil spring along with numerical
obtained. The data that was gathered was fed into the FEM model and different simulations were run, first with a simplified 3D
estimation
2016 TheofAuthors.
fatigue life.
Published by Elsevier B.V.
rectangular
Copyright 2016block
The shape,
Authors.inPublished
order to better establish
by Elsevier the model,
B.V. This andaccess
is an open then article
with the realthe
under 3DCCmesh obtained
BY-NC-ND from the blade scrap. The
license
2016 The
Peer-review Authors.
under Published
responsibility by
of Elsevier
the B.V. Committee
Scientific
overall expected behaviour in terms of displacement of ECF21.
was observed, in particular at the trailing edge of the blade. Therefore such a
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Peer-review
model can
Peer-review under
under responsibility
be useful in the goal
responsibility ofofScientific
of the the Scientific
predicting Committee
turbine
Committee blade
of ECF21.of ECF21.
life, given a set of FDR data.
Keywords: coil spring, spring steel, failure analysis
Keywords:
2016coil
Thespring, spring
Authors. steel, failure
Published analysis B.V.
by Elsevier
Peer-review under responsibility of the Scientific Committee of PCF 2016.

Keywords: High Pressure Turbine Blade; Creep; Finite Element Method; 3D Model; Simulation.

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +385-51-338-411; fax: +385-51-336-755. E-mail address: gvukelic@pfri.hr

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +385-51-338-411; fax: +385-51-336-755. E-mail address: gvukelic@pfri.hr
2452-3216 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.
* Corresponding
Peer-review
2452-3216 2016 author.
underThe Tel.: +351
responsibility
Authors. of218419991.
theby
Published Scientific Committee of ECF21.
Elsevier B.V.
E-mail address:
Peer-review amd@tecnico.ulisboa.pt
under responsibility of the Scientific Committee of ECF21.

2452-3216 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Peer-review under responsibility of the Scientific Committee of PCF 2016.
Copyright 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Peer review under responsibility of the Scientific Committee of ECF21.
10.1016/j.prostr.2016.06.368
 Goran Vukelic et al. / Procedia Structural Integrity 2 (2016) 29442950 2945
2 Author name / Structural Integrity Procedia 00 (2016) 000000

1. Introduction

Coil springs, or helical springs, are widely used in motor vehicle industry as one of the primary elastic members of
the vehicle suspension system. Used as a connection between the wheel and the body of the vehicle, they tone down
the shocks that would otherwise be transmitted from uneven surface of the road to the body. Absorption and subsequent
release of the external loads comes in a form of elastic energy and, due to their material and design, springs tend to
return to their initial length when unloaded.
Trends in the motor vehicle industry aim for continuous weight reduction along with improvement in performance
and coil springs are no exception. Nowadays, coil springs are subjected to significantly larger stresses compared to
ones used in previous generations of vehicles. Roughness of the material surface and inclusions are two important
stress raisers in the springs. Beside the presence of stress concentration raisers, deficient microstructure is another
main cause of spring failure. With increased stress levels in springs, suitable material properties and manufacturing
quality become more important. To assure improvement of coil spring design and enhance their integrity, failure
analysis of broken coil springs comes as an appreciable tool for manufacturers and car parts suppliers.
There has been a considerable amount of research on the topic of coil springs. Paper of Prawoto et al. (2008) can
serve as an introduction to automotive suspension coil springs, their fundamental stress distribution, material
characteristic, manufacturing and causes of common failures. Dealing with the failure of motor vehicle coil springs,
some of the recent work includes Das et al. (2007) experimentally investigating premature failure of a passenger car
coil spring caused by inherent material defects coupled with deficient processing. Further, Kosec et al. (2014)
discovered that failure of motor vehicle coil spring had been caused by simultaneous activity of cycling loads and
corrosion attack onto the material surface. Zhu et al. (2014) analyzed reasons why a compression coil spring mounted
on a heavy vehicle fractured at the transition position from the bearing coil. Fractured surface was analyzed by
employing experimental methods while numerical methods served to determine contact points between the coils from
which crack originated.
Looking to improve performance of springs, it is important to understand the behavior of spring material. Angelova
et al. (2014) gave comprehensive overview of fatigue behavior of spring steels DIN 17223C and 55Si7 followed by
mathematical models of typical da/dN diagrams. Murtaza and Akid (2000) studied crack initiation and growth behavior
in Si-Mn spring steel to develop empirical corrosion fatigue life prediction models. Sag resistance of Si-Cr spring
steels was investigated under influence of alloying additions and tempering temperatures by Nam et al. (2000). Barani
et al. (2006) tried to improve ductility of Si-Cr spring steel refining grain boundary carbides by thermomechanical
treatment.
Heat and surface treatments can significantly improve fatigue life of springs, a statement proved by Fragoudakis et
al. (2014) on 56SiCr7 spring steel by heating, quenching and tempering. Microshot peening process can be efficiently
employed to improve the fatigue life of spring steel, as confirmed by the study of Harada et al. (2014) on SUP9 spring
steel. Surface defects can become the predominant origin of spring steel failures under very high cycle fatigue regime
(Li et al., 2014), stressing the need for proper surface treatment of coil spring steels.
Although there seems to be a substantial track of previous work on the topic of failed springs and spring material,
research is still ongoing. New designs and new spring materials along with changing and unexpected service conditions
give reason for further failure analysis of fractured coil springs. This paper presents a step in that direction, where a
broken coil spring has been extracted from a vehicle in order to determine possible causes of failure. Local car
dealership confirmed that there has been a noticeable amount of failure cases on the particular vehicle type from which
the broken spring has been extracted. Results of the research presented here can be taken as a reference in further
improvement of mentioned coil springs so that the failure incidents can be minimized.

2. Experimental procedures

2.1. Visual observations

A motor vehicles front suspension coil spring fractured after 145.000 km and 7 years of service, at the transition
point from the lower bearing coil to the first upper coil. Geometry and dimensions of considered closed-end
compression spring are shown in Fig. 1.
 Author name / Structural Integrity Procedia 00 (2016) 000000 3
2946 Goran Vukelic et al. / Procedia Structural Integrity 2 (2016) 29442950

Fig. 1. Geometry and dimensions (in mm) of considered spring.

Fig. 2 (a) shows specimens cut from fractured coil spring with the fracture surface oriented at 45 to the wire
centerline, typical of torsional fatigue failure under cyclic loading. Polymer-based paint layer protects spring surface
against corrosion, but wear scar damaged the protective layer around the fracture surface. Wear scar was probably
result of contact between the bearing and first active coil. Spring has been exposed to corrosion at this area and heavily
corroded rugose surface of the wire can be observed in Fig. 2 (b).

a)
 Goran Vukelic et al. / Procedia Structural Integrity 2 (2016) 29442950 2947
4 Author name / Structural Integrity Procedia 00 (2016) 000000

b)

c)

Fig. 2. Fractured coil spring with a detail of fractured surface.

Fracture surface of the spring is also covered in rust, Fig 2 (c). Part of the surface where crack initiated is covered
in thicker, darker layer of rust. This is due to the fact that this was a portion of the fracture surface which formed
gradually and was exposed to corrosion for longer period of time before the final failure. Secondary crack area that
represents the accelerated stage of fracture is covered in lighter layer of rust.
Closer look at the fracture surface reveals corrosion pit at the place where the protective paint layer was damaged.
Fracture originated from this point and radiating ridges emanating from this point suggest fatigue failure caused by
cyclic loading from the vehicle. At the opposite side of the crack origin (lower edge of the wire), fast fracture area can
be observed corresponding to the final stage of failure.

2.2. Spring material

Chemical composition of spring material was determined using glow discharge spectrometer (GDS) LECO
GDS500A, Tab. 1.
2948 Goran Vukelic et al. / Procedia Structural Integrity 2 (2016) 29442950
Author name / Structural Integrity Procedia 00 (2016) 000000 5

Table 1. Chemical composition of spring material (wt%).

C Mn Si P S Mo Ni Cr V W Cu
0.612 0.698 1.78 0.018 0.0165 0.0133 0.107 0.598 0.0139 0.0565 0.147
Al Ti Co Nb Pb Sn As Sb Zr Rest
0.0036 0.0134 0.0497 0.0704 0.0029 0.146 0.0213 0,003 0.0087 95.6

Composition of tested material is adequate to the chromium-silicon steel 61SiCr7. It is a spring steel typically used
in manufacturing of light and heavy vehicle leaf springs and coil springs, safety valve springs, shock absorbers on
heavy machinery, instrument springs, friction plates, etc. Comparing the composition of the tested steel to standard
EN 10089-2002, it can be noted that the percentage of manganese is just below the standard range (0.7-1 %), while
chromium exceeds the maximum standard value (0.2-0.45 %).
Additionally, hardness test was performed using Struers hardness tester Duramin-2. Mean hardness value was
found to be 590 HV (Vickers hardness number). Maximum tensile strength of the steel derived from the hardness
value, according to Boyer and Gall (1985), is:

TS 3.2HV
1888 MPa . (1)

Value of maximum tensile strength is slightly higher than standard for steel 61SiCr7 which is supposed to be
maximum 1850 MPa.

2.3. Microscope analysis

Fracture surfaces on the specimens cut from coil spring, Fig. 2 (a), were examined using optical and scanning
electron microscope. Optical microscopy was done using Olympus SZX10 stereo microscope and fracture surface
investigation was concentrated around the area of probable crack initiation point, Fig. 3.

Fig. 3. Optical magnification of fracture surface around crack initiation point.

Three corrosion pits can be observed at the edge of the fracture surface, in the area of damaged protective paint
layer. These three pits served as crack initiation points from which crack propagated ultimately reaching opposite edge
of fracture surface and causing final failure.
Fig. 4 shows image of the crack initiation area obtained by FEI Quanta 250 scanning electron microscope (SEM)
under suitable magnification.
6 Author name / Structural Integrity Procedia 00 (2016) 000000
Goran Vukelic et al. / Procedia Structural Integrity 2 (2016) 29442950 2949

Fig. 4. SEM image of fracture surface around crack initiation point.

SEM analysis was difficult to perform because the fracture surface was damaged by corrosion. Examination of the
fracture surface at 80x magnification revealed a heavily oxidized and corroded surface which obscured fracture surface
details. Although an attempt was made to remove the corrosion layer using more aggressive cleaning agent, corrosion
products could still be seen on SEM images.

3. Discussion

Visual examination of fractured coil spring revealed that the protective paint layer around the fracture was
mechanically damaged. This damage was probably caused by the continuous contact between the lower bearing coil
and first adjacent active coil. Thus, surface of spring wire was exposed to corrosive environment making way to
formation of corrosion pits, Fig 2 (b). Three such pits served as crack initiation points under cyclic loading from the
vehicle. Fig. 2 (c) clearly shows primary fracture zone colored in darker tone where the crack propagation was slower
and opened surface was exposed to corrosion for a longer time. Crack propagated towards opposite edge of the spring
wire following paths of radiating ridges. Finally, near the opposite edge of the spring wire fast fracture zone can be
observed.
As the analysis showed, spring was made of spring steel 61SiCr7. It is a steel with somewhat elevated content of
silicone and chromium. Chromium at steels tends to increase tensile strength, hardness, toughness, resistance to wear
and corrosion, while silicon is used as a deoxidizer in the manufacture of steel. It slightly increases tensile strength
and can help in increasing the toughness and hardness levels. Nevertheless, undamaged paint layer comes as a must
in protecting springs against long term exposure to corrosive environment.
Optical and scanning electron microscopy images revealed damage to the wire surface caused by corrosion pits.
This is the point form which fracture emanated. Heavily oxidized and corroded fracture surface limited SEM
examination so deeper insight into the fracture surface could not be obtained.

4. Conclusion

Research presented in this paper was concerned with possible causes of motor vehicle coil spring failure. Fractured
spring was examined using experimental methods; namely, visual observation of fractured surface, determination of
chemical composition using glow discharge spectrometer, hardness testing, optical and scanning electron microscope
analysis of fractured surface.
Findings suggest that this is an example of corrosion fatigue failure. Protective paint layer of the wire was damaged
what opened the possibility of corrosion pits appearance. This pits served as crack initiation points from which fracture
2950 Goran Vukelic et al. / Procedia Structural Integrity 2 (2016) 29442950
Author name / Structural Integrity Procedia 00 (2016) 000000 7

propagated towards the opposite edge of the surface under the influence of cycling loading. Radiating ridges on the
fracture surface show the path of crack advancement.
Obtained results can be used in understanding the fracture behavior of coil spring in motor vehicle suspension
system and further improvement of spring performance in order to reduce failures. Further analysis would include
employing finite element method to determine stress levels in undamaged and damaged coil spring along with
numerical estimation of fatigue life.

Acknowledgements

This work has been financially supported by University of Rijeka under the project 13.07.2.2.04.

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