CRANKSHAFT

PROJECT BY: SHWETA NARAYAN MIT PUNE

PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENTS
Crankshafts require the following characteristics: 1. High strength and stiffness to withstand the high loads in modern engines, and to offer opportunities for downsizing and weight reduction 2. Resistance to fatigue in torsion and bending 3. Low vibration 4. Resistance to wear in the bearing areas

MATERIAL REQUIREMENTS
Controlled hardenability steels ensure repeatability of mechanical properties Optimised sulphur content balances the conflicting benefits of low sulphur for fatigue properties and high sulphur for improved machinability Controlled carbon content produces consistent response to induction hardening Controlled chromium and aluminium additions ensure consistent surface hardening through nitriding Clean steels provide good fatigue resistance

COMMONLY USED MATERIALS

Sr. N o 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. IS DESIGNATION 50C4 55C4 55C8 60C4 37Mn2 COMPOSITION

C%
0.45-0.55 0.5-0.6 0.5-0.6 0.55-0.65 0.32-O.42

Mn %
0.3-0.6 0.3-0.6 0.6-0.9 0.3-0.6 1.3-1.7

Other elements %
Si - 0.1-0.35

6. 7.

15Cr3Mo55 25Cr3Mo55

0.1-0.2 0.2-0.3

0.4-0.7 0.4-0.7

Si - 0.1-0.35 Si - 0.1-0.35

Some other materials used for crankshafts are: 35Mn2Mo28, 35Mn2Mo45, 40Cr1Mo28, 40Ni2Cr1Mo28, 20Mn2, 27Mn2, 37Mn2, etc

 The alloying elements typically used in these medium carbon steel alloys are: Manganese Chromium Molybdenum Nickel Silicon Cobalt etc However, Carbon content is the main determinant of the ultimate strength and hardness to which the alloy can be heat treated.

CRANKSHAFT HEAT TREATMENT

STEP 1: Transform the structure of the roughmachined part into the face-centered-cubic austenite crystalline structure (austenitize) by heating the part in an oven until the temperature throughout the part stabilizes in the neighborhood of 1550F to 1650F.

STEP 2: The part is removed from the

heating oven and rapidly cooled ("quenched") to extract heat from the part to transform austenitic structure into finegrained martensite. The desired martensitic post-quench crystalline structure is the highstrength, high-hardness, form of steel.

STEP 3: Cryogenic treatment, if used, directly follows quenching. Scientific data from a recent NASA study confirms that a properly-done cryo process transforms most of the retained austenite to martensite, relaxes the crystalline distortions, and produces helpful ("eta") particles at the grain boundaries. The resulting material is almost fully martensitic, has reduced residual stress, more homogeneous structure & hence greater fatigue strength.

STEP 4: The part is placed in a tempering oven and soaked for a specific amount of time at a specific temperature (for that alloy) in order to reduce the hardness to the desired level, hence producing the desired strength, ductility, impact resistance etc.

STEP 5: Nitriding is the process of diffusing elemental nitrogen into the surface of a steel, producing iron nitrides (FeNx). The part gains a high-strength, high hardness surface with high wear resistance, and greatly improved fatigue performance. These effects occur without the need for quenching from the nitriding temperature.

CRANKSHAFT MANUFACTURING PROCESSES

A] FORGING: A billet of suitable size is heated to the appropriate forging temperature i.e. 19502250F. Then it is successively pounded or pressed into the desired shape by squeezing between pairs of dies under very high pressure. These die sets have the concave negative form of the desired external shape. Complex shapes or extreme deformations often require more than one set of dies.

Crankshaft manufactured by forging:

B] MACHINING: Billet crankshafts are fully machined from a round bar ("billet") of the selected material. This method provides extreme flexibility of design and allows rapid alterations to a design in search of optimal performance characteristics. In addition to the fully-machined surfaces, the billet process makes it much easier to locate the counterweights and journal webs exactly where the designer wants them to be. This process involves demanding machining operations, i.e. for counterweight shaping and undercutting, rifle-drilling main and rod journals, and drilling lubrication passages.

Crankshaft manufactured by machining: