Materials Science and Engineering A 381 (2004) 331336

Fatigue strength of ultra-ne grained steels

M.D. Chapetti a,b, , H. Miyata b , T. Tagawa b , T. Miyata b , M. Fujioka c
a

INTEMA, University of Mar del Plata-CONICET, J.B. Justo 4302, B7608FDQ Mar del Plata, Argentina b Department of Materials Science & Engineering, Nagoya University, Nagoya 464-8603, Japan c Steel Research Laboratories, Nippon Steel Corporation, 20-1 Shintomi, Futtsu, Chiba, Japan Received 7 October 2003; received in revised form 9 April 2004

Abstract Fatigue strength of two ultra-ne grained steels (grain sizes 0.8 and 1 m) was investigated. A coarse grained (grain size 12.5 m) SM490 steel with a similar chemical composition was also analysed for comparison purpose. An important improvement on smooth fatigue strength was observed in ultra-ne grained steels and results obey the Hall-Petch relation usually observed between smooth fatigue limit and grain size. High fatigue notch sensitivity was observed and no improvement in fatigue limit of sharp notches is expected. 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Ultra-ne grained steel; Fatigue limit; Fatigue notch sensitivity

1. Introduccion One of the reasons for the current interest in very ne grained metallic materials is the concept that control of the mechanical properties by processing may be more desirable than the current practice of controlling properties by alloying. This would result in the use of fewer and simpler industrial alloys and would lead to economic benets as well as improved recyclability. The properties of a metal are strongly inuenced by the grain size and the well-known Hall-Petch relation which predicts an increase in yield strength ( y ) and smooth fatigue limit ( eR ) with a decrease in grain size (d), has been shown to be applicable to a wide variety of metals. The Hall-Petch relationship has been found to apply to most conventional alloys with grain sizes larger than 5 m, and recently it has been reported its validity for yield strength of steels with a grain size as small as 1 m [1]. In a Ferrous Super Metal Project, process metallurgy for producing ultra-ne grains was studied. Based on these fundamental studies, ultra-ne grained steel plates with a thickness of 5 mm were experimentally produced, using a low

temperature heavy deformation hot rolling process [1]. The aim of the present work was to study the fatigue strength of two ultra-ne grained low carbon steels and the fatigue notch sensitivity of one of them. A relatively coarse grained SM490 steel with a similar chemical composition was also analysed for comparison purpose.

2. Experimental procedure Two ultra-ne grained low carbon steels (hereafter UFGS1 and UGGS2) were tested and analysed. The ferrite grain size measured by the linear intercept method was 0.8 and 1 m, respectively. Rening of ferrite grains was carried out by thermo-mechanical treatment applying heavy deformation in the ferrite temperature range by using a hot deformation simulator [1]. A JIS SM490 steel (hereafter CGS) with 12.5 m in grain size and the same chemical composition as UFGS1 was also investigated. Chemical composition (mass%) and mechanical properties are shown in Table 1. Fig. 1 shows scanning electron micrographs of all steel microstructures. Three different bar tensile specimens (machined in the longitudinal direction of the provided plate) were tested (see Fig. 2). One of them with smooth surface while the other two were notched. According to the results from nite element analysis the values of the theoretical concentration factor kt

Corresponding author. Tel.: +54-223-481-6600; fax: +54-223-481-6600. E-mail address: mchapetti@.mdp.edu.ar (M.D. Chapetti). 0921-5093/$ see front matter 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.msea.2004.04.055

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Table 1 Chemical composition and mechanical properties of steels tested Chemical composition (wt.%) C CGS UFGS-1 UFGS-2 0.16 0.16 0.15 Si 0.44 0.44 0.20 Mn 1.3 1.3 1.80 Nb 0.013 0.013 0.030 Ti 0.012 0.012 0.099 Al 0.037 0.037 0.030 N 0.003 0.003 0.026 Mechanical properties d ( m) 12.5 7 0.8 0.7 1 0.5 Hv 187 250 299 ys (MPa) 424 653 696 uts (MPa) 691 796 1183 R.A. (%) 59 51 54 El. (%) 25 18 14

limit eR was dened as the maximum nominal stress amplitude under which a specimen endured more than 107 cycles. The crack initiation limit iR was dened as the limiting nominal stress amplitude required to obtain any microstructurally-short crack at 107 cycles. Stress level was kept constant for each tested specimen. The smooth fatigue limit eR was then analysed by testing different specimens at different stress levels. Cracks observed at stress levels below the fatigue limit were considered as non-propagating crack, and any possible further propagation was not analysed.

3. Experimental results and discussion 3.1. Smooth fatigue limit

Fig. 1. Microstructures of steels tested. (a) CGS, (b) UFGS1, (c) UFGS2.

in notched specimens were 2 and 2.8. After machining, the notches were mechanically polished with a series of grits down to 1 m diamond paste. The specimens were analysed after testing with a scanning electron microscope (Hitachi S-510). Constant stress amplitude tests under axial loading with zero mean stress and a 30 Hz frequency were carried out in an Instron fatigue test machine. All tests were performed at room temperature in laboratory air. The smooth fatigue

Fig. 3 shows experimental results of the fatigue strength as a function of the number of cycle to fracture. An important improvement of the fatigue strength was observed in the case of ultra-ne grained steels, particularly for UFGS2. Smooth fatigue limit ( eR ) was 400 MPa for UFGS1, 490 MPa for UFGS2 and 275 MPa for CGS. Fig. 4 shows the smooth fatigue limit as a function of inverse of the square root of the grain size. Data from refs. [24] are also shown. Data from Chapetti et al. [2] corresponded to ve ferritic-pearlitic steels with similar grain size (55 m) and different strength obtained by solution and precipitation hardening by using different alloy elements, and

Fig. 2. (a) Smooth round bar specimen, and (b) notched (R0.5-U notch, R0.2-V notch) round bar specimens; dimensions are in mm.

Fig. 3. Relationships between stress amplitude and number of cycles to failure at R = 1.

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Fig. 4. Relationships between smooth fatigue limit and grain size.

Fig. 5. Relationships between smooth fatigue limit and ultimate tensile strength.

includes a low strength steel with a base chemical composition as a reference. Data from Yokomaku et al. [3] correspond to ultra-low carbon steels with different grain sizes (13113 m), containing phosphorus and copper (PCu steel) with good fatigue strength attributed to solution hardening caused by phosphorus and precipitation hardening caused by -Cu. Data from Taira et al. [4] correspond to three S20C steels with different grain size (7.855 m). The value of the smooth fatigue limit eR is correlated to the grain size d in the form of the Hall-Petch relation [5] as: 300 eR = (180 80) + d (1)

with d in m and eR in MPa. All data from refs. [24] dene a scatter band that is extrapolated to a grain size of about 0.5 m. Although it is clear that the reduction of grain size to 0.8 or 1 mm increases the fatigue strength and the difference observed for UFGS1 and UFGS2 is in the order of the extrapolated scatter band, the smooth fatigue limit of UFGS1 seems to be a little low and out of the extrapolated band. Besides, it is well known that the fatigue strength is a function of ultimate tensile strength for fatigue fracture dened by surface crack initiation, and that the following relation usually holds: eR 0.5uts (2)

Fig. 5 shows fatigue strength as a function of the tensile strength for all data showed in Fig. 4. Dashed lines correnponding to eR / uts = 0.4, 0.5 and 0.6 are shown. Results show that both ultra-ne grained steels follow the usual trend, and it seems that the UFGS1 shows a better fatigue strength improvement when the ultimate tensile strength is considered. This result contrasts with the results from Fig. 4, in which better performance was observed for UFGS2. The initiation and early propagation of fatigue cracks are strongly inuenced by the microstructure and the grain size, and they seem to be related to the fatigue limit of metals [610]. The smooth fatigue limit depends on the effective resistance of the microstructural barriers that has to be over-

come by the cracks. Each of these barriers has a characteristic dimension and a critical stress range associated with its resistance to crack propagation. The smooth fatigue limit is determined by the strongest microstructural barrier, since that resistance is generally greater than the resistance to crack nucleation. If the strongest microstructural barrier to fatigue crack propagation is placed at a given distance d from the material surface, the crack is non-damaging with respect to the smooth fatigue limit up to a crack size a = d [6,7,10]. For a microstructurally short crack (MSC, the crack length is of the order of the microstructural dimensions) initiated from a plain surface the fatigue limit at a given stress ratio R, eR , denes the critical nominal stress amplitude needed for continued crack growth (microstructural threshold). If the applied stress amplitude () is smaller than eR , cracks (included in the microstructurally-short crack regime) are arrested at microstructural barriers placed at depths smaller than d. In other words, the smooth fatigue limit is dened by the ability of the rst grain boundary to arrest a micro-crack. This is a material-based limit (depending on the microstructural characteristic dimension (d), as Miller has pointed out [6]. This concept is in accordance with the Hall-Petch relation, that says that the fatigue limit depends on the grain size, and that an decrease in grain size increases the resistance of the grain boundary for crack propagation [5]. Experimental results show that this concept is also valid for grain size as small as 1 m. However, when such a small grain size is used for calculations the scatter observed in grain size became very important. It can be seen in the loglog plot of Fig. 4 that for relatively coarse grains the scatter in grain size usually observed in a given microstructure can be a small fraction of the scatter band associated to the Hall-Petch relation. However, in the case of ultra-ne grains the scatter in grain size in a given steel can be of the same order of the scatter associated to the Hall-Petch relation. This can be the reason for a apparently low fatigue limit measured for UFGS1 (see Fig. 4). If micrographs of the microstructure of

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the ultra-ne grain steels are analysed (Fig. 1), it can be seen that UFGS1 is a little textured and several grains of about 12 m in size can be observed. On the other hand, UFGS2 microstructure is more homogenous and smaller scatter is observed. Statistical analysis of grain size was carried out and results for the grain size distribution are provided in Table 1 as two times the standard deviation. If it is assumed that a grain size of about twice the mean grain size can be found, and that these grains dene the fatigue limit, data for UFGS1 is well inside the extrapolated scatter band in Fig. 4. Finally, it is necessary to mention that data used in Fig. 4 for comparison include data with the same grain size and different fatigue resistance (ref. [2]). This shows that, besides decreasing grain size, there are other methods that can be used to improve the smooth fatigue limit of mono-phase microstructures, like static strengthening by solid solution and precipitation hardening. It would be important to analyse the possibility to get further improvement in smooth fatigue limit by the combination of ultra-ne grain steels with the application of hardening processes. 3.2. Fatigue notch sensitivity It is well known that material fatigue limit, notch depth and sharpness, and the long crack fatigue threshold stress intensity range are important parameters in determining the threshold stress e of a notched component. The usual procedure is to relate the fatigue limit of the notched element ( e ) to the fatigue limit of the unnotched (smooth) material ( eR ). The fatigue strength reduction factor kf (also referred to as fatigue notch factor, dynamic notch factor or effective notch factor) is dened as: eR (3) kf = e The most simple assumption is: kf = kt (4)

Fig. 6. Relationships between stress amplitude and number of cycles to failure at R = 1, for three different stress concentration factors.

where kt is the theoretical stress concentration factor. However, it is frequently observed, especially for ductile materials and high kt values, that: eR (5) kf < kt or e > kt Since the prediction of the fatigue limit is a technical problem it is not surprising that several empirical equations relating kf to kt have been proposed (e.g. [11,12]). More recently mechanics analyses incorporating both analytical and numerical procedures have also been utilized by many authors to treat the problem of notches in fatigue [6,7,1318]. In this work, only the base concepts will be applied to the analysis of the results for an ultra-ne grained steel. Fig. 6 shows experimental results of the fatigue strength as a function of the number of cycle to fracture for three different stress concentration factors (kt = 1, 2 and 2.8) for UFGS2. Fatigue limit ( e ) was 490 MPa for kt = 1, 260 MPa

for kt = 2 and 200 MPa for kt = 2.8. Fig. 7 show plots of the fatigue limit versus the stress concentration factor kt . The bold line represents the theoretical fatigue limit given by kf = kt , the dashed line represents the crack initiation limit, and the dot-dashed line represents the notch fatigue limit, e . Two examples of non-propagating crack observed in specimens tested at stress levels between crack initiation limit and fatigue limit are also shown. The maximum length of the observed non-propagating cracks are about 2 m for kt = 2 and 4 m for kt = 2.8. The fatigue limit of polycrystalline metals seems to be a function of a maximum non-propagating crack length associated with a particular stress level [6]. Up to a certain crack size the crack is non-damaging with respect to the fatigue limit, and for long cracks (LC) the fatigue limit decreases with increasing crack size. As it was mentioned in the previous section, for a microstructurally short crack initiated from a smooth surface the fatigue limit eR denes the critical nominal stress amplitude needed for continued crack growth (microstructural threshold). If the applied stress amplitude is smaller than eR , cracks included in the microstructural small crack regime are arrested at microstructural barriers. On the other hand, the threshold for long cracks is dened in terms of the threshold value of the stress intensity range, KthR , thus long cracks can only grow by fatigue if the applied K is greater than KthR . Besides, several investigators have demonstrated by using fracture mechanics that two patterns of notch fatigue behaviour can occur [7,1316,1922]. In sharp notches (high stress concentration factor, kt ), mechanically-short non-propagating cracks exist at the fatigue limit of the notched component, whereas blunt notches (small kt ), exhibit microstructurally-short non-propagating cracks. In the case of blunt notches the stress that is sufcient to initiate a crack at the notch root and overcomes the strongest microstrucural barrier, is also sufcient to cause continuous propagation of the crack to failure and the fatigue strength

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Fig. 7. Relationships between fatigue strength and theoretical stress concentration factor.

is given by a microstructural threshold determined by a criterion. On the other hand, in the case of sharp notches the fatigue strength is given by a mechanical threshold dened by a K criterion. In this case the fatigue strength becomes independent of the stress concentration factor kt and is governed mainly by the notch depth D and the fatigue threshold KthR for long cracks [15,16,21,23]. Smith and Miller [23] have shown that for sharp notches the minimum bulk stress required to cause fatigue failure is given by the threshold for long cracks ( KthR ) and the depth of the notch (D), as follows: KthR (6) e 0.5 D Notches used in this work have the same depth so that the results for fatigue limit should trend to the value given by expression (6). The threshold for fatigue crack propagation under R = 1 has not been measured, but it can be estimated by using data for threshold for crack propagation for R > 0 presented in ref. [25] for the same material: KthR=0.1 = 5 0.5 MPa m1/2 , KthR=0.3 = 4.3 0.5 MPa m1/2 , and KthR=0.5 = 3.7 0.5 MPa m1/2 . Between several semi-empirical approaches proposed to t the variation of threshold as a function of stress ratio R, the following Barson linear t [24] was applied to the experimental results [25]: KthR = 5.4 3.5R (7)
Fig. 8. Relationships between normalized fatigue limit and stress concentration factor.

that the experimental results tend to the estimated band as kt increases. Fig. 8 shows the relationship between the stress concentration factor kt and fatigue limit e normalized by the ones for respective un-notched specimens, eR . Data from ref. [2] are also shown for comparison. It can be seen that, in spite of a relatively longer notch used for data from ref. [2] (D = 1 mm), the notch sensitivity is clearly high for the ultra-ne grained steel. This is a result of a combination of an important improvement of the smooth fatigue limit and a relatively low fatigue propagation threshold for long cracks.

where KthR is in MPa m1/2 . If the expression is extrapolated to negative R values, the fatigue propagation threshold for long crack under R = 1 results to be KthR=1 = 8.9 0.5 MPa m1/2 . Using this value and the depth of the notches (D = 0.5 mm) in expression (6), a minimum fatigue limit for sharp notches is estimated to be 115 10 MPa. Fig. 7 shows the scatter band of the estimated fatigue limit given by expression (6) for sharp notches. It can be observed

4. Concluding remarks The fatigue strength of two ultra-ne grained low carbon steels (grain sizes 0.8 and 1 m) and the fatigue notch sensitivity of one of them were study. A coarse grained (grain size 12.5 m) SM490 steel with a similar chemical compo-

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sition was also analysed for comparison purpose. Results are summarized as follows: Important improvement on fatigue strength was observed in ultra-ne grained steels when compared with similar steels of coarser grains. The improvement was higher (75%) in the case of the UFGS with higher tensile strength. Results obey the Hall-Petch relation usually observed between smooth fatigue limit and grain size d. The combination of a high plain fatigue limit, a small size of the non-propagating cracks that denes the fatigue limit, and a relatively low threshold for fatigue propagation for long cracks dene a high fatigue notch sensitivity of ultra-ne grained steels. However, considering the great improvement of smooth fatigue limit, the fatigue limit for blunt notched specimens are steel greater than the fatigue limit for ne and coarse grained steels. For sharp notches, for which the fatigue limit is mainly given by the fatigue propagation threshold for long cracks, no improvements in fatigue strength is expected for the analysed ultra-ne grained steel. Acknowledgements One of the authors (M.D.Ch.) wishes to express his thanks for funding provided by Nagoya University, Japan. References
[1] M. Fujioka, Y. Abe, S. Aihara, in: Proceeding of the International Symposium on Ultrane Grained Steels, The Iron and Steel Institute of Japan, Uminonakamichi, Fukuoka, Japan, 2001, pp. 274277.