Effect of Multiple Hardening on Bearing Steel to Improve the Fatigue Life
摘要
In the present investigation, the effect of multiple hardening processes on the rolling contact fatigue (RCF) behavior of SAE 52100 material was studied. The samples were subjected to two different heat treatments like single and double hardening. In the double-hardened heat-treated specimen, the prior austenite grain size was reduced significantly compared to the conventional single-hardened process and resulting in much finer martensitic packets within the grains in the double-hardened condition. In order to evaluate the RCF behavior, the tests were conducted under the mixed lubrication condition at 5.88 GPa contact pressure. The rolling contact fatigue life of the double-hardened specimen was found to be significantly higher than the conventional single-hardened specimen.