Investigation of Fatigue Failure of Roll Shafts in a Tube Manufacturing Line

Abstract

A failure analysis of steel shafts operating as roll components in a tube drawing machine was conducted. Visual inspection, optical microscopy, SEM fractography, and hardness testing were used as the principal analytical tools for the failure investigation. The findings showed that the failure mechanism is rotating bending fatigue under low stress–high stress concentration conditions. The primarily inadequate component design resulted in high stress concentration factors interacted with the soft annealed material used for the component and caused fatigue under the presence of fluctuating stresses.