Influence of large non-metallic inclusions on bending fatigue strength hardened and tempered steels

The article discusses the effect of large oxide impurities (a diameter larger than 10 μm in size) on the fatigue resistance of structural steel of high purity during rotary bending. The study was performed on 7 heats produced in an industrial plant. The heats were produced in 140 ton electric furnaces. All heats were desulfurized. The experimental material consisted of semi-finished products of high-grade, carbon structural steel with: manganese, chromium, nickel, molybdenum and boron. Steel sections with a diameter of 18 mm were hardened from austenitizing by 30 minutes in temperature 880°C and tempered at a temperature of 200, 300, 400, 500 and 600°C for 120 minutes and air-cooled. The experimental variants were compared in view of the heat treatment options. Fatigue tests were performed with the use of a rotary bending machine at a frequency of 6000 cpm. The results were statistical processed and presented in graphic form. This paper discusses the results of the relative volume of large impurities, the fatigue strength for various heat processing options.