Influences of up-milling and down-milling on surface integrity and fatigue strength of X160CrMoV12 steel

Abstract

This paper aims to compare the influences of the two peripheral milling modes, up-milling and down-milling, on surface integrity and fatigue strength of X160CrMoV12 high-alloy steel. The experimental investigations showed an important difference between integrity of both milled surfaces. The down-milled surface is lowly work-hardened and well finished (lower roughness), but subjected to tensile residual stresses and severely damaged by folds of metal and short micro-cracks. The up-milled surface is highly work-hardened and subjected to compressive residual stresses, but poorly finished (higher roughness) and damaged by a density of micro-cavities due to carbide extraction. The results of 3-point bending fatigue tests revealed that the fatigue limit at 2 × 106 cycles of the up-milled state is largely higher of about 26% in comparison with the down-milled state. The effects of surface integrity induced by each milling mode on fatigue strength were evaluated using a HCF behaviour predictive approach based on Dang Van’s multiaxial criterion. The predictive results estimated that the pre-existing micro-cracks play a dominant role in the fatigue strength degradation of the down-milled surface while the other surface effects seem to be lower. On the contrary, the fatigue strength of the up-milled surface is less affected by the pre-existing micro-cavities. The detrimental roughness effect (stress concentration effect) is significantly reduced by the beneficial effects of superficial hardening and compressive residual stresses. So, this study revealed that up-milling is the more appropriate mode for a better surface integrity towards fatigue strength of X160CrMoV12 steel than the down-milling mode.