Title:
Dependence of Strength on Corrosion-Fatigue Resistance of AISI 4130 Steel

dc.contributor.advisor Saxena, Ashok
dc.contributor.advisor Neu, Richard W.
dc.contributor.author Evins, Joseph Lee en_US
dc.contributor.committeeMember Preet Singh
dc.contributor.committeeMember Johnson, W. Steven
dc.contributor.department Mechanical Engineering en_US
dc.date.accessioned 2005-03-04T15:19:42Z
dc.date.available 2005-03-04T15:19:42Z
dc.date.issued 2004-04-09 en_US
dc.description.abstract Automobile components are often exposed to aggressive environments as a result of aqueous salts from the road coming into contact with unprotected steel. This situation greatly reduces both the life and the appearance of the affected parts. Ultra-high strength steel parts are suspected to exhibit poor corrosion-fatigue properties and be more susceptible to corrosion in general. In this study, the effect of strength level on the decrease in fatigue life of AISI 4130 steel when exposed to an aqueous salt solution is quantified. The observed mechanical properties including corrosion-fatigue behavior are examined with consideration to different microstructural characteristics resulting from heat treatments to the steel. The hardness and tensile properties of the test material were characterized before fatigue testing. Fatigue tests were completed in both air and salt solution to determine the effect on fatigue life of the latter environment. Following fatigue testing, the fracture surface was examined using a scanning electron microscope (SEM) to determine the failure mode. Six strength levels of AISI 4130 steel were investigated ranging from 837 to 1846 MPa (121 268 ksi). The frequency of loading used for corrosion-fatigue tests was 1 Hz and the stress ratio for each test was constant at R = 0.1. The corrosion-fatigue tests consisted of the specimen being submerged in an aqueous solution of sodium chloride, calcium chloride, and sodium bicarbonate and fatigued until failure. The solution was maintained at room temperature with constant aeration to ensure constant oxygen levels. The parameters of interest were the applied loads and the cycles to failure. There were four primary findings of the study. First, decreases in fatigue life of the material caused by the corrosive environment ranged from 100% in the lowest strength level to 190% in the higher strength levels. This result showed that higher strength in this steel corresponds to increasing detriment to fatigue life when the material is exposed to an aqueous salt environment. Second, evidence was found that the salt solution lowered the fatigue limit for each strength level studied in this material. All specimens that were tested in the corrosive environment failed in less than 150,000 cycles, while some specimens fatigued in the air environment experienced run-outs at over 106 cycles. Third, the decrease in fatigue life was attributed to the presence of martensite in the structure of the steel. It was noted that the higher the martensite content, the larger the decrease in fatigue life when exposed to the corrosive environment. Finally, the fracture surfaces of fatigued specimens revealed that a similar cracking mode was present for each strength level in both environments. Enhanced crack initiation was, therefore, assumed to be the cause of the decrease in fatigue life between the air and aqueous salt environments. en_US
dc.description.degree M.S. en_US
dc.format.extent 2635794 bytes
dc.format.mimetype application/pdf
dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/1853/5265
dc.language.iso en_US
dc.publisher Georgia Institute of Technology en_US
dc.subject Corrosion en_US
dc.subject Fatigue
dc.subject AISI 4130
dc.subject Low alloy steel
dc.title Dependence of Strength on Corrosion-Fatigue Resistance of AISI 4130 Steel en_US
dc.type Text
dc.type.genre Thesis
dspace.entity.type Publication
local.contributor.advisor Neu, Richard W.
local.contributor.corporatename George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering
local.contributor.corporatename College of Engineering
relation.isAdvisorOfPublication 06a1818c-da22-4133-bde7-ad5adc26dab7
relation.isOrgUnitOfPublication c01ff908-c25f-439b-bf10-a074ed886bb7
relation.isOrgUnitOfPublication 7c022d60-21d5-497c-b552-95e489a06569
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