Available online at www.sciencedirect.

com

International Journal of Fatigue 29 (2007) 22192229

International Journalof Fatigue

www.elsevier.com/locate/ijfatigue

A comparative study of the fretting fatigue behavior of 4340 steel and PH 13-8 Mo stainless steel
J.A. Pape 1, R.W. Neu
*
The George W. Woodru School of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332-0405, USA Received 9 July 2004; received in revised form 24 February 2005; accepted 7 December 2006 Available online 21 January 2007

Abstract The fretting fatigue behavior of two high strength structural steels, PH 13-8 Mo stainless steel and quenched and tempered 4340 steel, is investigated. Both were heat treated to a similar hardness (43-44 HRC), comparable to the condition used in structural components. Both materials experienced signicant reductions in fatigue strength due to fretting, with PH 13-8 Mo stainless steel exhibiting a greater susceptibility to fretting than 4340 steel, when operating in the mixed fretting regime. The use of fretting pads with dierent surface proles showed that contact geometry did not signicantly inuence the fretting fatigue behavior of either steel for the range of loading conditions considered. The fretting fatigue lives are discussed in light of the low cycle fatigue and crack growth rate behavior of these steels. The life trends in fretting fatigue correlate more closely to the low cycle fatigue behavior. 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction Fretting fatigue is a widespread problem in engineering applications where two components are in contact and one or both of them are subjected to alternating fatigue loads. Fretting, a small amplitude, oscillatory, relative motion between contacting components, creates surface and subsurface damage from which fatigue cracks nucleate and grow in the presence of a fatigue load. This can occur at stress levels well below the fatigue limit of a material. If unchecked, these cracks may eventually cause component failure, which could have tragic consequences. The current investigation examines the fretting fatigue behavior of two high strength structural steels: PH 13-8 Mo stainless steel and quenched and tempered AISI 4340 steel. These materials are often used in fatigue critical components, such as the rotor hubs and connecting links of helicopters. PH 13-8 Mo stainless steel has been used to replace 4340 steel to enhance the corrosion fatigue resis*

Corresponding author. Fax: +1 404 894 0186. E-mail address: rick.neu@me.gatech.edu (R.W. Neu). Presently with General Electric Aircraft Engines, Cincinnati, OH.

tance of these components. However, these components involve attachments that are susceptible to other failure modes besides corrosion fatigue. Earlier work focused on the evolution of fretting fatigue damage in PH 13-8 Mo stainless steel under relatively high load conditions [1]. Fretting cracks were found to nucleate within 200 cycles under conditions that lead to severe knockdown on fretting fatigue life. Observations suggest severe cyclic and ratchet plastic strains accumulate in the surface layers. Microstructure changes often occur in the volume that is heavily strained. In addition, under the limited normal load and displacement amplitude conditions considered, there was minimal inuence of contact conguration on fretting fatigue life [2]. The conditions that tend to promote this minimal inuence include (1) a severe fretting condition that leads to crack nucleation early in the fretting process under dierent contact congurations and (2) a bulk cyclic stress that is sucient to grow those cracks into the body. In this case, most of the fretting fatigue life is dominated by crack growth. This paper focuses on the susceptibility of both materials to fretting fatigue, in strength conditions typical of these components. Most tests are conducted in the mixed fretting

0142-1123/$ - see front matter 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.ijfatigue.2006.12.016

2220

J.A. Pape, R.W. Neu / International Journal of Fatigue 29 (2007) 22192229

1600 1400 1200
4340 steel PH 13-8Mo 4340 steel

Stress (MPa)

regime, which is characterized by gross slip in the initial cycles with rapid transition to partial slip as friction increases due to the generation of fretting damage [3,4]. This is typically the fretting regime that leads to the largest knockdown factors. Similarities and dierences between both the plain fatigue and fretting fatigue behavior of PH 13-8 Mo stainless steel and 4340 steel are highlighted. 2. Experimental methods 2.1. Materials PH 13-8 Mo stainless steel (UNS13800) is a martensitic, precipitation hardenable stainless steel that combines corrosion resistance with material properties similar to those of traditional quenched and tempered alloy steels [5,6], while 4340 steel is a medium carbon, low alloy steel that can be quenched and tempered to achieve a signicant increase in strength. The elemental composition of both materials is shown in Table 1. The PH 13-8 Mo stainless steel was aged at 566 C for 4 h and air cooled (H1050), which resulted in a hardness of 44 HRC. The resulting monotonic yield and ultimate tensile strengths were 1286 MPa and 1325 MPa, respectively. The 4340 steel was hardened at 829 C for 1.5 h, oil quenched, tempered at 427 C for 2 h, and then air cooled. The resulting hardness of the 4340 steel was 43-44 HRC, and the corresponding monotonic yield and ultimate strengths were 1456 MPa and 1548 MPa. The elastic moduli for PH13-8 Mo stainless steel and 4340 steel are 192 GPa and 208 GPa, respectively. Strain-controlled fatigue experiments were performed on both materials to determine their respective low cycle fatigue properties. The monotonic and cyclic stressstrain curves are shown in Fig. 1. PH 13-8 Mo stainless steel is nearly cyclically stable, with only very slight cyclic softening occurring, while the 4340 steel softens signicantly. The 4340 steel has higher monotonic yield and ultimate strengths than the PH 13-8 Mo while PH 13-8 Mo has a higher strength under cyclic loading than the 4340 steel. The strainlife curves are compared in Fig. 2. 4340 steel exhibits a higher fatigue strength for lives less than 103 cycles compared to PH 13-8 Mo, while the PH 13-8 Mo has a greater fatigue strength for lives greater than 103 cycles. The additional parameters for the cyclic stress strain curve ra ra n10 ea E K0
Table 1 Elemental composition of 4340 steel and PH 13-8 Mo stainless steel Alloy PH 13-8 Mo 4340 Cr 12.2513.25 0.81 S 0.008 Max 0.003 Ni 7.508.58 1.75 Al 0.901.35 Mo 2.02.50 0.25 Co 0.01 Si

1000 800 600 400 200 0 0 0.005

monotonic cyclic

0.01

0.015

0.02

Strain
Fig. 1. Monotonic and cyclic stressstrain curves of 4340 steel and PH 138 Mo stainless steel.

Fig. 2. Strainlife curves for 4340 steel and PH 13-8 Mo stainless steel.

and modied ConManson equation, ea r0f 2N f b e0f 2N f c E

are provided in Table 2. Fatigue limits for several stress ratios, R, based on stress amplitude, are given in Table 3. The long crack growth behavior of PH 13-8 Mo stainless steel and 4340 steel for R = 0.1 and 0.5 are shown in Fig. 3 [8,9]. The long crack growth rate for PH 13-8 Mo and 4340

C 0.05 Max 0.43 N 0.01 Max

Cu 0.03 Max 0.16 O 0.0025 Max

Mn 0.1 Max 0.7 V 0.6

P 0.01 Max 0.008 Nb(Cb) 0.003

0.1 Max 0.23 Ti 0.01

J.A. Pape, R.W. Neu / International Journal of Fatigue 29 (2007) 22192229 Table 2 Strainlife fatigue constants of 4340 steel and PH 13-8 Mo stainless steel Alloy Incremental step test K (MPa) PH 13-8 Mo 4340 1550 N/A
0

2221

Individual fatigue tests K 0 (MPa) 1743 1770 n0 0.059 0.0911 r0f (MPa) 1997 2059 b 0.0739 0.0859 e0f 0.525 1.7624 c 0.74 0.848

0.0352 N/A

Table 3 107 cycle fatigue endurance limits of 4340 steel and PH 13-8 Mo stainless steel [7] Alloy 107 cycle life R = 1.0 PH 13-8 Mo 4340 577 486 R = 0.1 377 332 R = 0.5 N/A 261 R = 0.75 N/A 196

10

-6

Crack growth rate (m/cycle)

PH13-8, R = 0.5 PH13-8, R = 0.1 4340, R = 0.5 4340, R = 0.1 10

-7

Fig. 4. Experimental fretting fatigue apparatus.

10
-8

10

-9

10

100
1/2

K (MPa-m )
Fig. 3. Long crack growth rate curves for 4340 steel and PH 13-8 Mo stainless steel at stress ratios of 0.1 and 0.5.

are quite similar at R = 0.5, while cracks grow signicantly faster in 4340 steel at R = 0.1. 2.2. Experimental procedure The apparatus used to carry out the fretting fatigue experiments is shown in Fig. 4. Two bridge-type fretting pads were clamped to a specimen of the same material by a calibrated proving ring to create a contact load of 343 N at each pad foot. Fretting pads had either at feet, or cylindrical feet with a radius of curvature of 1.5, 15, or 150 mm. Most experiments were conducted with fretting pads having dierent surface proles on either edge of the specimen. Strain gages were bonded to the underside of the fretting pads to measure the frictional forces between the pads and the specimen. After the apparatus was assembled, the specimen was fatigued at a frequency of 10 Hz in a uniaxial, servohydraulic test system in laboratory air. Two types of specimen were used during this investigation, a at dogbone specimen and a at rectangular speci-

men. The dogbone specimen design was used for all of the PH 13-8 Mo experiments, and the rectangular specimen design was used for all of the experiments on 4340 steel. The gage section of all specimens had a width of 19.0 mm and a thickness of 3.81 mm. All of the specimens were fretted on the thickness dimension. The contact regions of both the fretting pads and specimen were polished to a 600 grit nish, with the polishing marks oriented in the direction of fretting. The dierence in specimen designs led to a dierence in the nal polished surface, with the fretting surface of the dogbone specimens having a slight curvature while the rectangular specimen edges remained at. To facilitate a comparison between fretting fatigue experiments on PH 13-8 Mo and 4340 steel despite this dierence, some specimens of 4340 steel were re-polished, which resulted in a curvature along their edge similar to that present on the PH 13-8 Mo specimens. Surface roughness measurements of 4340 steel specimens were obtained by using a Zygo NewView 200 3-D surface proler (Zygo Corporation, Middleeld, CT). The average surface roughness (Ra) of polished specimens was determined to be between 0.10 and 0.16 lm for traces with or across the fretting direction. Average roughness values for polished specimens of PH 13-8 Mo stainless steel were measured with a laser prolometer using two dierent cuto lter lengths [2]. The resulting surface roughness values were 0.04 lm and 0.2 lm across the direction of fretting for cuto lter lengths of 100 lm and 1000 lm, respectively, and 0.05 lm and 0.3 lm with the fretting direction for cuto lter lengths of 100 lm and 1000 lm.

2222

J.A. Pape, R.W. Neu / International Journal of Fatigue 29 (2007) 22192229

600 500 Fretting fatigue data R = 0.5 Fatigue endurance limit R = 0.5 Fretting fatigue data R = 0.75 Fatigue endurance limit R = 0.75

3. Results 3.1. Fretting fatigue lives Fretting fatigue experiments on PH 13-8 Mo stainless steel and Q&T 4340 steel showed that fretting caused a substantial decrease in fatigue endurance for both materials. Both materials had similar fretting fatigue lives, but the reduction in fatigue strength was greater for the PH 13-8 Mo than for the 4340 steel. This can be seen in Fig. 5 for R = 0.1. Arrows indicate specimens for which failure did not occur at either of the fretting pads. For the experiments discussed in this paper, cycles to fretting fatigue failure refers to the presence of a through crack of approximately 3 mm in length. This crack is detected by a rapid decrease in frictional force amplitude, resulting from the change in local compliance due to the presence of the crack. Hence, the failure life incorporates both the nucleation of a fretting fatigue crack and some growth. This criterion was used primarily because of its reliability and ease of systematic implementation by monitoring the evolution of the frictional force response. Quantitatively, the 107 cycle fretting fatigue endurance limits for PH 13-8 Mo stainless steel and Q&T 4340 steel were 26% and 36% of the smooth specimen endurance limits, respectively, for R = 0.1. This corresponds to a reduction in the endurance limit from 377 MPa without fretting to 100 MPa under fretting fatigue conditions for PH 13-8 Mo, and from 332 MPa to 120 MPa for 4340 steel. For R = 0.5 and 0.75, fretting fatigue endurance limits for 4340 steel were 46% and 38% of the smooth specimen endurance limits, respectively. This is shown in Fig. 6. Fretting fatigue stresslife curves are shown for each material individually in Figs. 7 and 8. These plots break down the fretting fatigue experiments according to the testing conguration used. For example, the top entry in the
Stress amplitude (MPa)

400 300 200 100 0 4 10

10

10

10

10

Cycles to failure
Fig. 6. Fretting fatigue SN curves for 4340 steel at stress ratios of 0.5 and 0.75.

300 250

Stress amplitude (MPa)

200 150

R = 0.1
100 50 0 4 10 S=12.0, 15/150 S=12.0, 15/150, sp S=16.5, Flat/15 S=16.5, Flat/15, sp S=12.0, 1.5/15 10
5

10

10

10

Cycles to failure
Fig. 7. Fretting fatigue SN curves for 4340 steel at a stress ratio of 0.1 and various contact geometries.
300

640 560 PH13-8 fatigue 4340 fatigue PH13-8 fretting 4340 fretting

250

Stress amplitude (MPa)

480 400 320 240 160 80 0 4 10

Stress amplitude (MPa)

R = 0.1

200 150 100

R = 0.1
50 0 4 10
S=16.5, Flat/15 S=12.0, 15/15
5 6 7 8

10

10

10

10

10

10

10

10

Cycles to failure
Fig. 5. Fretting fatigue SN curves for 4340 steel and PH 13-8 Mo stainless steel at a stress ratio of 0.1.

Cycles to failure
Fig. 8. Fretting fatigue SN curves for PH 13-8 Mo stainless steel at a stress ratio of 0.1 and various contact geometries.

J.A. Pape, R.W. Neu / International Journal of Fatigue 29 (2007) 22192229

2223

legend in Fig. 7 indicates that fretting pads having a pad span (S) of 12.0 mm were used, and pads having radii of curvature of 15 mm and 150 mm were used on either edge of the specimen. The pad span is dened as the distance between the centers of the fretting pad feet. The addition of sp to the second legend entry indicates that the specimens used for these experiments were re-polished and had a slight curvature along the specimen edge. As in Figs. 5 and 6, an arrow indicates those specimens for which failure did not occur at either of the fretting pads. From these data it appears that contact geometry is not a major factor contributing to the reduction of fatigue life for either material under the experimental conditions employed. In general, experimental data for 4340 steel (Fig. 7) all follow the same trend, regardless of contact pad geometry, specimen edge curvature, or pad span used. In addition, none of the pad geometries appeared to be preferential for nucleating catastrophic cracks, as cracks were nucleated from all four geometries within similar lifetimes. Similar results were observed from experiments on PH 13-8 Mo, further strengthening the conclusion that contact geometry does not signicantly inuence fretting fatigue life of PH 13-8 Mo under these particular experimental conditions [1,2]. It should be noted that the size of the fretting fatigue process volume is a more signicant factor in inuencing fretting fatigue life [1015]. The size of the volume depends on both the pressure (i.e., normal force and prole of the bodies) and size of contact [10,11]. The fretting fatigue process volume is comparable for the contact geometries considered in this study because the normal force was not varied. Hence, it is not surprising that there is little eect of contact geometry. Also, the prole of the pads did not

300 R = 0.1 R = 0.5 R = 0.75

Stress amplitude (MPa)

250

200

150

100

50 4 10

10

10

10

10

Cycles to failure
Fig. 9. Inuence of stress ratio on the fretting fatigue life of 4340 steel.

signicantly change from fretting wear since most tests were operating in either the partial slip or mixed fretting regime. Fig. 8 The eect of mean stress on the fretting fatigue life of 4340 steel is shown in Fig. 9. Experiments were performed at R = 0.1, 0.5, and 0.75. Little dierence was observed between experiments performed at R = 0.1 and 0.5. At a stress amplitude of 120 MPa, no failure occurred for either stress ratio. For R = 0.75, however, failure occurred after 211,000 cycles at a stress amplitude of 120 MPa and after 301,000 cycles at a stress amplitude of 100 MPa, indicating that the fretting fatigue limit in terms of stress amplitude at R = 0.75 is signicantly lower than that at R = 0.1 and R = 0.5.

Fig. 10. Fretting fatigue scars from: (a) cylindrical contact and (b) at contact from an experiment on PH 13-8 Mo stainless steel showing scar orientation. The direction of fretting is from top to bottom for each image.

2224

J.A. Pape, R.W. Neu / International Journal of Fatigue 29 (2007) 22192229

3.2. Surface analysis of fretting scars Fretting scars produced on the PH 13-8 Mo stainless steel specimens were, in general, elliptical in shape and were located near the center of the specimen, whereas most of the scars produced on the 4340 steel were rectangular and extended to the edges of the specimen. The elliptical scar on the stainless steel specimens is due to curvature of the specimen edges, leading to a crossed cylinder contact as opposed to a true cylinder on at contact. Similar contact conditions were produced on 4340 specimens by polishing the specimen edges such that a slight curvature resulted. As seen in Fig. 10, there was a fundamental dierence in the orientation between the at and cylindrical fretting scars, as the fretting direction is from top to bottom for each gure. Fretting scars created by at pads exhibited signicant variations in shape, whereas the overall characteristics of scars produced by cylindrical fretting pads were much less variable. Fig. 11 shows fretting scars on 4340 steel specimens for fretting pads with radii of curvature of 1.5, 15, and 150 mm. As the fretting pad radius of curvature increases, the fretting scar width increases as well. However, in general, scars created by pads with 15 and 150 mm radii of curvature appear to be quite similar. Fretting scars from numerous experiments were measured, and the results are shown in Fig. 12 as a plot of fretting scar width (in the fretting direction) as a function of the fretting pad radius of curvature for relative slip ranges from 4.3 to 19.8 lm. Also shown is the contact width predicted by Hertzian contact theory for cylindrical pads having radii of curvature of 1.5, 15, and 150 mm. Hertz theory

Fig. 12. Measured fretting scar widths as a function of fretting pad radius of curvature for various ranges of relative slip.

assumes that only elastic deformation occurs within the contact, and that there is no relative sliding between contacting components. As can be observed from Fig. 12, the general trend of increasing contact width with increasing fretting pad radius of curvature holds well for radii of curvature of 1.5 and 15 mm. All of the data points fall above the Hertz predictions for pads with these radii of curvature, as would be expected due to the relative slip, plastic deformation, and wear that occurs within the measured fretting scars. Also, the measured scar widths approach those predicted by Hertz theory as the range of relative slip decreases, as one might predict. On the other

Fig. 11. Fretting fatigue scars from experiments on 4340 steel made by fretting pads with: (a) 1.5 mm; (b) 15 mm and (c) 150 mm radii of curvature. The direction of fretting is from top to bottom for each image.

J.A. Pape, R.W. Neu / International Journal of Fatigue 29 (2007) 22192229

2225

hand, the scar widths for pads having a radius of curvature of 150 mm are nearly the same as those for pads with a radius of curvature of 15 mm, as was observed from photos of the fretting scars. This is likely due to inaccuracies in machining or polishing of the 150 mm pads, leading to a decrease in the actual radius of curvature from that expected. Trends in average surface roughness (Ra) with increasing relative slip range and fretting pad radius of curvature

are shown in Fig. 13 for fretting scars on 4340 steel. These measurements were taken within the fretting scar using the Zygo 3-D surface proler. Fig. 13a indicates a slight increase in surface roughness as the relative slip increases, while Fig. 13b shows that the average roughness does not seem to be dependent on the radius of curvature of the fretting pads. A similar trend as in Fig. 13a is observed for surface roughness as a function of fatigue stress amplitude. This is no surprise, as the relative slip is proportional to

Ra roughness (m)

Ra roughness (m)
5

0 0

0
10 15 20 1 10 100

Relative slip range (m)

Fretting pad radius of curvature(m)

Fig. 13. Average surface roughness (Ra) as a function of: (a) relative slip range and (b) fretting pad radius of curvature for experiments on 4340 steel.

Fig. 14. Fretting scars from PH 13-8 Mo stainless steel at fatigue stress amplitudes of: (a) 217 MPa; (b) 166 MPa; (c) 120 MPa and (d) 100 MPa. The trailing edge of contact is at the bottom of each image.

2226

J.A. Pape, R.W. Neu / International Journal of Fatigue 29 (2007) 22192229

the fatigue stress amplitude for the experimental apparatus used during this study. Fig. 14 shows the damage produced by fretting at four dierent stress amplitudes on PH 13-8 Mo stainless steel at R = 0.1. The trailing edge of the scar, i.e. the edge furthest from the line of symmetry of the pad, is located at the bottom of each gure. Experiments at stress amplitudes of 217 MPa and 166 MPa (Figs. 14a and b, respectively) were generated from cylindrical fretting pads with a radius of curvature of 15 mm and a pad span of 16.5 mm. Major fatigue cracks are observed near the trailing edge of these scars. Signicant damage can be observed throughout the entire scar at a stress amplitude of 217 MPa (Fig. 14a), but when the stress amplitude is decreased to 166 MPa, the scar exhibited a central region that diered signicantly from the outer edges of the scar (Fig. 14b) even though the fatigue life did not change signicantly. These scars are typical of tests operating in the mixed fretting regime. Scars from experiments at stress amplitudes of 120 MPa and 100 MPa (Fig. 14c and d) were generated from cylindrical fretting pads with a radius of curvature of 15 mm and a pad span of 12.0 mm. Fretting scars for both of these stress amplitudes exhibited a central stick region surrounded by a slip annu-

lus, indicating that partial slip conditions prevail throughout the test. The shorter pad span is expected to generate less relative slip than a longer pad span for a given stress amplitude, but it is expected that the scars in Figs. 14a and b would not vary signicantly if a shorter pad span had been used [9]. 3.3. Frictional force measurements The frictional force between the fretting pads and specimen was measured via strain gages mounted on the fretting pads. Fig. 15 shows the evolution of the frictional force vs. applied fatigue load hysteresis from a cylindrical fretting contact during an experiment on PH 13-8 Mo stainless steel performed at a stress amplitude of 217 MPa and R = 0.1 [2]. The initial hysteresis behavior indicates the existence of a gross slip condition (Fig. 15a), which was typical during the rst one to 200 cycles for all of the experiments in this study. In most cases, this gross sliding behavior gradually transitioned towards partial slip, which is characterized by the hysteresis loops shown in Fig. 15b and c. A partial slip condition was usually attained within the rst few 1000 cycles of fretting, and remained throughout most of the experiment. Hence, most tests were

Frictional Force (N)

Frictional Force (N)

400 200 0 2 - 00 4 - 00 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40

400 200 0 -200 -400 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40

Load(kN)

Load (kN)

Cycle 60
400 200 0 200 400 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 400

Cycle 5,300

FrictionalForce (N)

FrictionalForce (N)

200 0 -200 -400 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40

Load(kN)

Load (kN)

Cycle 60,000

Cycle 122,000

Fig. 15. Evolution of the frictional force vs. applied fatigue load hysteresis at a cylindrical fretting contact during an experiment on PH 13-8 Mo stainless steel with a stress amplitude of 217 MPa, a stress ratio of 0.1, and a pad span of 16.5 mm at: (a) cycle 60; (b) cycle 5300; (c) cycle 60,000 and (d) cycle 122,000 [2].

J.A. Pape, R.W. Neu / International Journal of Fatigue 29 (2007) 22192229

2227

operating in the mixed fretting regime that promotes fretting crack formation [3,4]. During the early stages of an experiment, the coecient of friction (COF) changed signicantly. The COF is calculated by dividing the frictional force at the onset of gross sliding by the contact load. Typical values for the coecient of friction during the initial loading cycle for PH 13-8 Mo stainless steel tested at a stress amplitude of 217 MPa, R = 0.1, and a pad span of 16.5 mm range from 0.06 to 0.20. Initial COF values for 4340 steel tested under similar conditions range from 0.15 to 0.25. Little dierence is observed in the COF values from fretting pads having dierent geometries. The COF increases as the sliding conditions at the contact transition from gross sliding to partial slip, but the hysteresis loops no longer saturate at a constant value of frictional force. Instead, the frictional force continues to increase until the maximum fatigue load is reached, as shown in Figs. 15b and c. At this point gross sliding is no longer occurring, and the coecient of sliding friction

is greater than the value obtained by using the maximum frictional force reached during the cycle. Thus, only a lower bound for the COF can be obtained directly from the response. Lower bounds for the COF during the period of peak frictional force from experiments on 4340 steel are 1.05 for the at fretting pad and 0.78 for the cylindrical fretting pad. In comparison, similar values from experiments on PH 13-8 Mo stainless steel are 1.20 for the at pad and 0.70 for the cylindrical pad [2]. Comparisons between the frictional force range evolution for PH 13-8 Mo stainless steel and 4340 steel are shown in Fig. 16. Comparisons are shown for stress amplitudes ranging from 100 MPa to 217 MPa. In general, the frictional force range increases quicker in experiments on 4340 steel than it does during experiments on PH 13-8 Mo. At higher stress amplitudes, PH 13-8 Mo stainless steel experiences a higher steady state frictional force range than 4340 (Fig. 16a). For stress amplitudes below 140 MPa, the higher frictional force range is observed in experiments on 4340 steel.

900 800

PH 13-8 Mo, S3, 15 mm PH 13-8 Mo, S3, Flat 4340, S21, 15 mm 4340, S21, Flat

600

Frictional force range (N)

Frictional force range (N)

PH 13-8 Mo, S10, 15 mm PH 13-8 Mo, S10, 15 mm 4340, S24, 15 mm 4340, S24, 150 mm

700 600 500 400 300 200 100

500

400

300

200

10

10

10

10

10

10

100

10

10

10

10

10

10

10

Number of cycles

Number of cycles

400

PH 13-8 Mo, S13, 15 mm PH 13-8 Mo, S13, 15 mm 4340, S39, 1.5 mm 4340, S39, 15 mm

Frictional force range (N)

350 300 250 200 150 100

10

10

10

10

10

10

10

10

Number of cycles
Fig. 16. Comparison of frictional force range evolution between PH 13-8 Mo stainless steel and 4340 steel for fatigue stress amplitudes of: (a) 217 MPa; (b) 120 MPa and (c) 100 MPa.

2228

J.A. Pape, R.W. Neu / International Journal of Fatigue 29 (2007) 22192229

4. Discussion Both materials experienced a signicant reduction in fatigue strength due to fretting. However, since PH 13-8 Mo stainless steel has a greater resistance to fatigue in the life regime of interest, it sustains a greater reduction in life due to fretting than 4340 steel does. This behavior can be rationalized by considering the cyclic behavior of the two steels in the absence of fretting. Fig. 2 shows that 4340 steel has a greater resistance to low cycle fatigue (<1.0 103 cycles to failure) than PH 13-8 Mo, while PH 13-8 Mo has a greater resistance to fatigue during experiments lasting more than 3.0 103 cycles. Fretting fatigue crack nucleation shares a number of characteristics with the nucleation of cracks under low cycle fatigue (LCF) conditions, such as signicant plastic deformation, minimal mean stress eect on fatigue crack formation (in contrast to the mean stress eect in high cycle fatigue), and the nucleation of multiple cracks early in the fatigue lifetime. Therefore, it may be expected that 4340 steel outperforms PH 13-8 Mo stainless steel during fretting fatigue because of its superiority during low cycle fatigue. The increase in fretting fatigue life of 4340 steel is mostly attributed to the increased resistance to crack formation, particularly since the fatigue crack growth rate is greater or at best comparable in 4340 steel. It may also be noted that higher strength materials generally show a greater susceptibility to fretting fatigue than those with lower strength [1618], and 4340 steel has a much lower cyclic strength than PH 13-8 Mo stainless steel as well as a lower 107 cycle fatigue strength. There was some dependence of the fretting fatigue life of 4340 steel on the mean stress used during experiments (Fig. 9). Fretting fatigue life curves were not signicantly dierent for R = 0.1 and 0.5, but R= 0.75 resulted in lower fatigue lives for the same stress amplitude as compared to the lower stress ratios. Because fretting nucleates cracks early in the fatigue life for the experimental conditions studied [1], this dierence can mainly be attributed to the higher fatigue crack growth rate for R = 0.75. In this context, the similarity in fretting fatigue life for R = 0.1 and 0.5 is no surprise given the similarities observed in the crack growth rate at these two stress ratios (Fig. 3). There is a noticeable dierence in the fretting scars produced during experiments on PH 13-8 Mo stainless steel as the applied fatigue stress amplitude decreases (Fig. 14). As the fatigue stress amplitude decreases from 217 MPa to 166 MPa, the fretting scar develops a central region that is clearly distinct from the outer edges of the scar. This difference is likely due to a change in steady-state contact conditions, as the frictional force vs. applied fatigue load hysteresis loops for the 166 MPa experiment suggest a transition away from gross slip at the contact [2]. The dierence in the appearance of the fretting scars due to a reduction in stress amplitude from 166 MPa to 120 MPa is clearly due to a change to partial slip conditions within the contact, as the scar in Fig. 14c shows a central stick region sur-

rounded by a slip annulus. Little dierence is observed between the fretting scars from experiments conducted at 120 MPa and 100 MPa, both exhibiting partial slip. A number of observations can be made by comparing the frictional force range curves recorded during an experiment with the corresponding fretting scars. Most of the tests operated in the mixed fretting regime. In this regime, the frictional force range reaches a peak, typically within the rst 100 cycles, followed by a subsequent decrease before reaching steady-state behavior, as shown in Fig. 16a. Fretting fatigue crack formation occurred in all mixed fretting regime cases. However, a few of the frictional force range evolution curves do not show a decrease in frictional force range after the peak is reached. This can be observed in Figs. 16b and c for experiments on PH 13-8 Mo stainless steel at stress amplitudes of 120 MPa and 100 MPa, respectively. Corresponding fretting scars can be observed in Figs. 14c and d, and it is evident these tests operated in the partial slip regime. The experiment on 4340 steel with a fretting pad radius of curvature of 1.5 mm, shown in Fig. 16c, also operated in partial slip, most likely due to the greater contact pressure. In general, for experiments where the fretting scar exhibited partial slip, the frictional force range tended to experience a smooth transition to the steady-state response, as opposed to reaching a peak value and then showing a marked decrease in frictional force range. Similar results have been reported by Wallace and Neu [19], who observed a smooth transition to steadystate frictional force range behavior for fretting fatigue experiments on Ti-6Al-4 V when the fretting scars exhibited partial slip. For fatigue stress amplitudes below 140 MPa (Figs. 16b, c), the frictional force measured during experiments on PH 13-8 Mo stainless steel was lower than that from experiments on 4340 steel. On the other hand, for fatigue stress amplitudes above 160 MPa (Figs. 16a), PH 13-8 Mo exhibits a higher frictional force than 4340. This role reversal can be related to the relative damage developed during fretting for the two materials. At a fatigue stress amplitude of 217 MPa, interrupted experiments on PH 13-8 Mo showed clear evidence of adhesion [1], while similar experiments on 4340 steel did not [9]. This adhesion would be expected to cause signicant fretting damage and material transfer, which has been observed in fretting scars from experiments on PH 13-8 Mo at stress amplitudes above 160 MPa. The more severe damage developed on specimens of PH 13-8 Mo due to this adhesion would likely lead to higher frictional forces for the PH 13-8 Mo as opposed to the 4340 steel. For stress amplitudes below 140 MPa, fretting scars from experiments on PH 13-8 Mo showed evidence of partial slip, while fretting scars from experiments on 4340 steel generally maintained the characteristics of a scar generated in the mixed fretting regime. Since the fretting contacts in PH 13-8 Mo at lower stress amplitudes are in partial slip, the surface damage is less severe than observed from experiments on 4340 steel, leading to lower frictional forces in the PH 13-8 Mo specimens observed at lower stress amplitudes.

J.A. Pape, R.W. Neu / International Journal of Fatigue 29 (2007) 22192229

2229

5. Conclusions Fretting fatigue experiments on PH 13-8 Mo stainless steel and quenched and tempered 4340 steel showed significant reductions in the 107 cycle fatigue endurance limit due to fretting. Both materials had similar fretting fatigue lives, but the reduction in fatigue strength was greater for PH 138 Mo stainless steel than for 4340 steel. Thus, PH 13-8 Mo stainless steel is more susceptible to fretting fatigue than 4340 steel for the particular heat treatments and fretting conditions used. The greatest reduction was for tests conducted at a stress ratio of 0.1. The fretting fatigue life of PH 13-8 Mo was only 26% of the smooth specimen life, while the fretting fatigue life of 4340 steel was 36% of the smooth specimen life. Comparing these trends to the low cycle fatigue and crack growth behavior of these two steels suggests that the superior performance of 4340 steel in fretting fatigue closely correlates to its superior low cycle fatigue performance. The fretting fatigue life showed some dependence on mean stress, though the dierence in life is primarily attributed to the eect of mean stress on the crack propagation behavior. Varying the geometry of the contact did not have a significant inuence on the fretting fatigue life under the experimental conditions considered in this investigation. Experiments were performed with at/cylindrical, 1.5 mm/ 15 mm, and 15 mm/150 mm pad congurations. Neither pad from each of these congurations was exclusive in nucleating catastrophic fretting fatigue cracks. In addition, stresslife data points followed the same trend regardless of which pad nucleated the crack that caused failure. A clear link between the frictional force range evolution and the sliding conditions at the fretting interface has been made. Unless both scars for a fretting pad show evidence of a central stick region with a surrounding region of slip suggestive of partial slip, the frictional force will peak within the rst few 100 cycles of fretting fatigue and will then decrease until a steady-state response is attained. Cracks were nearly always observed to form in this mixed fretting regime in both steels. Acknowledgement This research was funded by the Oce of Naval Research through research Grant N00014-95-1-0539.

References
[1] Pape JA, Neu RW. Fretting fatigue damage accumulation in PH 13-8 Mo stainless steel. Int J Fatigue 2001;23(Suppl. 1):S43744. [2] Pape JA, Neu RW. Inuence of contact conguration in fretting fatigue testing. Wear 1999;225229:120514. [3] Zhou ZR, Vincent L. Mixed fretting regime. Wear 1995;181 183:5316. [4] Fouvry S, Kapsa P, Vincent L, Dang Van K. Theoretical analysis of fatigue cracking under dry friction for fretting loading conditions. Wear 1996;195:2134. [5] Scully JR, Van Den Avyle JA, Cieslak MJ, Romig Jr AD, Hills CR. The inuence of palladium on the hydrogen-assisted cracking resistance of PH 13-8 Mo stainless steel. Metall Trans A 1991;22A:242944. [6] Hochanadel PW, Robino CV, Edwards GR, Cieslak MJ. Heat treatment of investment cast PH 13-8 Mo Stainless Steel: Part I. Mechanical properties and microstructure. Metall Mater Trans A 1994;25A:78998. [7] MIL-HDBK-5G, November; 1994. p. 2-479. [8] Patel AM, Neu RW, Pape JA. Growth of small fatigue cracks in PH 13-8 Mo stainless steel. Metall Mater Trans A 1999;30A:1289300. [9] Pape JA. Fretting fatigue damage accumulation and crack nucleation in high strength steels. Ph.D. Thesis. Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA; 2002. [10] Nowell D, Hills DA. Crack initiation criteria in fretting fatigue. Wear 1990;136:32943. [11] Araujo JA, Nowell D. Analysis of pad size eects in fretting fatigue using short crack arrest methodologies. Int J Fatigue 1999;21:94756. [12] Araujo JA, Nowell D. The eect of rapidly varying contact stress elds on fretting fatigue. Int J Fatigue 2002;24:76375. [13] Fouvry S, Kapsa P, Vincent L. A multiaxial fatigue analysis of fretting contact taking into account the size eect. In: Hoeppner DW, Chandrasekaran V, Elliott CB, editors. Fretting fatigue: current technology and practices. ASTM STP, Vol. 1367. American Society for Testing and Materials; 2000. p. 16782. [14] Fouvry S, Kapsa P, Sidoro F, Vincent L. Identication of the characteristic length scale for fatigue cracking in fretting contacts. J Phys IV France 1998;8:Pr8-15966. [15] Swalla D, Neu RW. Characterization of fretting fatigue process volume using nite element analysis. In: Mutoh Y, Kinyon SE, Hoeppner DW, editors. Fretting fatigue: advances in basic understanding and applications. ASTM STP, Vol. 1425. ASTM International; 2003. p. 89107. [16] Waterhouse RB. Physics and metallurgy of fretting. AGARD In: Conference proceedings no. 161, specialists meeting on fretting in aircraft systems; 1975. p. 8-18. [17] Waterhouse RB. Avoidance of fretting fatigue failures. In: Waterhouse RB, editor. Fretting fatigue. London: Applied Science Publishers Ltd.; 1981. p. 22140. [18] Waterhouse RB. Fretting fatigue. Int Mater Rev 1992;37(2):7797. [19] Wallace JM, Neu RW. Fretting fatigue crack nucleation in Ti-6Al4V. Fatigue Fract Eng Mater Struct 2003;26:199214.