Effect of sulfur on rolling contact fatigue life of high-manganese precipitation-hardening austenitic steel

Abstract

For mechanical components used in high magnetic flux such as bearings and shafts that undergo cyclic stress, materials require low permeability with high strength, hardness, appropriate machinability, and good fatigue properties. Although it is implied that low permeability and machinability will be achieved by a selection of sulfurized austenitic ({gamma}) steel grades, effect of manganese sulfide (MnS) on fatigue properties of such grades especially for bearing applications is not clarified. For high-carbon chromium bearing steels, the effect of MnS on rolling contact fatigue life of the steels containing sulfur less than 0.03% are discussed. In these studies, the effect of MnS is not clearly determined whether it is beneficial or harmful to contact fatigue lives of the steels. However, effect of MnS under higher sulfur content, i.e., 0.10%, on the fatigue properties of {gamma} steel has not been studied. In this paper, the effect of sulfur on rolling contact fatigue properties of vanadium added {gamma} steel, 10Cr-6Ni-8Mn-1.6V-0.6C, was investigated focusing on microstructural change in connection with MnS particles.