Size Effect on Fatigue Properties of EA4T Axle Steel

doi:10.3901/JME.2025.16.137

Abstract

Abstract: In order to study the influence of load type and sample size on the fatigue performance of EA4T axle steel, the fatigue tests of EA4T axle steel samples with the minimum section diameters of 3 mm, 6 mm and 10 mm were carried out by rotating bending and axial tension and compression. Then, the influence of load type and sample size on fatigue performance was analyzed by using high stress volume and Weibull distribution theory. Finally, the fatigue limit of the material was predicted based on the stress gradient theory. The results show that the fatigue strength obtained under the condition of rotating bending loading is always greater than that under the condition of axial tension and compression loading when the minimum section diameter of the specimen is the same. Under the condition of rotating bending loading, the fatigue strength decreases with the increase of the minimum cross-sectional diameter of the specimen, but there is no such trend under the condition of axial tension and compression loading. There is no obvious correlation between the fatigue strength of the specimen and the minimum cross-sectional diameter. The difference of stress gradient caused by size change is the main reason for the size effect of EA4T axle steel samples. The relationship between the fatigue limits of the two load types is quantified. The proposed fatigue limit prediction method has a good fitting effect on the test data, which can provide a reference for the fatigue limit prediction of EA4T axle steel.

Key words: size effect, EA4T axle steel, fatigue strength, high stress volume, stress gradient

CLC Number:

TG142

XU Ben, YANG Bing, WANG Shuancheng, XIAO Shoune, YANG Guangwu, ZHU Tao. Size Effect on Fatigue Properties of EA4T Axle Steel[J]. Journal of Mechanical Engineering, 2025, 61(16): 137-145.

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