Failure Analysis of the Axle Shaftof an Automobile

Abstract

This paper deals with the various analysis incorporated in the testing and inspection of the axle shaft. The axle shaft is one of the prime components of an automobile and provides greater turgidity and balance to the same. The paper reviews the various works that has been reported on the safety and working of this prime component which is chiefly subjected to the torsional and sudden shocks in its working. Acomprehensivestudy of various methodologies has also been presented. The use of the visual inspection for the defects like cracks and fractures, can work very handy to keep the surface defects at bay which can be significant in the cyclic and torsional loading of the shafts.The next type of testing is the physical testing and this is also significant in the tensile and impact testing of the shafts. This too gives a better insight to the hardness and the corresponding after effects on the core and surface. The results also conclusively give the details of whether the shafts are more prone to ductile or brittle fractures.There have been critical studies on the viable chemical inspection methodologies and also some of them have been performed on such an axle which leads to subtle inferences to the major axle shaft impurities and diffused metallic and non-metallic inclusions. The use of SEM and EDX has been discussed to get the results of afore-mentioned and henceforth the susceptible damages corresponding the type of inclusions has been noted.