Effect of retained austenite on high cycle fatigue behavior of carburized 14NiCr11 steel

Abstract

Two vacuum carburizing treatments were applied to ductile steel 14NiCr11 to obtain equivalent hardened layers with retained austenite contents of 25% and 41%. The properties of the carburized surfaces were examined and characterized before fatigue tests and during cyclic loading. Transformation of retained austenite into martensite during loading, was evaluated by dispersive X-ray diffraction method. The effects of this transformation on the residual stresses have been measured by X ray diffraction in martensite and in retained austenite structures. It was shown that the cyclic retained austenite transformation caused a redistribution of the compressive residual stresses and an increased surface hardness that stabilized after a small number of cycles. The dependence of fatigue behavior on surface properties was determined, and a relationship between the stabilized state and the fatigue limit is suggested. A phenomenological approach is proposed to correlate the influence of surface hardening and the stabilized residual stresses on fatigue limit of carburized specimens. The Crossland, Dang Van and Findley-Matake, multiaxial high cycle fatigue criteria were used in this approach and results have shown a good agreement with experimental data.