2020 Volume 106 Issue 6 Pages 402-412
The influence of Mn addition on fatigue properties of ferritic steel containing solute carbon was examined using rotating bending fatigue tests on water-quenched Fe-0.016C-1.9Mn ferritic-pearlitic steel containing 0.0035 mass% solute carbon in comparison with water-quenched Fe-C ferritic steels containing 0.0063-0.017 mass% solute carbon. The fatigue tests were carried out at ambient temperature around 300 K and a frequency of 50 Hz with a stress ratio of –1. The Fe-C-Mn steel exhibited a comparable hardness and fatigue limit to the water-quenched Fe-0.017C ferritic steel which contains about three times the amount of solute carbon than the Fe-C-Mn steel. In addition, the Fe-C-Mn steel exhibited a comparable coaxing effect to the Fe-0.017C ferritic steel when started from a stress amplitude near the fatigue limit. Crack initiation sites were changed by stress amplitude unlike in the Fe-C ferritic steels. Specifically, intergranular cracks were observed at high stress amplitudes and transgranular cracks were observed at low stress amplitudes near fatigue limit. It was concluded that the Mn addition suppresses intergranular cracking at the low stress amplitudes.
