Corrosion fatigue in nitrocarburized quenched and tempered steels

In order to investigate the fatigue strength and fracture mechanism of salt bath nitrocarburized steels, specimens of the steels SAE 4135 and SAE 4140, in a quenched and tempered state, and additionally in a salt bath nitrocarburized and oxidizing cooled state as well as in a polished (after the oxidizing cooling) and renewed oxidized state, were subjected to comparative rotating bending fatigue tests in inert oil and 5 pct NaCl solution. In addition, some of the quenched and tempered specimens of SAE 4135 material were provided with an approximately 50-mu m-thick electroless Ni-P layer, in order to compare corrosion fatigue behavior between the Ni-P layer and the nitride layers. Long-life corrosion fatigue tests of SAE 4135 material were carried out under small stresses in the long-life range up to 10(8) cycles with a test frequency of 100 Hz. Fatigue tests of SAE 4140 material were carried out in the range of finite life (low-cycle range) with a test frequency of 13 Hz. The results show that the 5 pct NaCl environment drastically reduced fatigue life, but nitrocarburizing plus oxidation treatment was found to improve the corrosion fatigue life over that of untreated and Ni-P coated specimens. The beneficial effect of nitrocarburizing followed by oxidation treatment on corrosion fatigue life results from the protection rendered by the compound layer by means of a well-sealed oxide layer, whereby the pores present in the compound layer fill up with oxides. The role of inclusions in initiating fatigue cracks was investigated. It was found that under corrosion fatigue conditions, the fatigue cracks started at cavities along the interfaces of MnS inclusions and matrix in the case of quenched and tempered specimens. The nitrocarburized specimens, however, showed a superposition of pitting corrosion and corrosion fatigue in which pores and nonmetallic inclusions in the compound layer play a predominant role concerning the formation of pits in the substrate.