Investigation for Small Shear-Mode Fatigue Cracks in Bearing Steels

Abstract

Flaking and spalling caused by rolling contact fatigue associate with a small crack, and a special testing method and machine are required to study the small fatigue crack behavior under shear mode loading. It was found by authors that the behaviors of small shear-mode fatigue cracks from the inclusions and the artificial defects could be successfully observed by applying the fully-reversed torsion coupled with static axial compressive stress. However, the servo-hydraulic fatigue testing machine is quite expensive for purchase and maintenance, and large installation space is necessary for the hydraulic and cooling systems. Moreover, the presence of axial compression significantly lowers the frequency of torsional loading, which consequently results in low testing speed. In this study, a cost-effective, space-saving and high-speed fatigue testing method was newly proposed, and the shear-mode fatigue crack growth tests were carried out by using the developed machine. Based on the obtained experimental data, the potential of the new testing machine is discussed.