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Failure Analysis of a Diesel Engine Crankshaft

  • H. Y. Zhang

    major in material science and technology, engaged in failure analysis of metal components, working at Materials Failure Analysis Center, Shichangxu Innovation Center for Advanced Materials, Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

     EMAIL logo     , S. Qu

    director of the Materials Failure Analysis Center, Shi-changxu Innovation Center for Advanced Materials, Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

         , C. Dong , C. M. Fu , Q. S. Zang and Z. F. Zhang
Published/Copyright: May 14, 2021
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Practical Metallography
From the journal Practical Metallography Volume 58 Issue 5

Abstract

A six-cylinder crankshaft in a 12L diesel engine was locked after testing for about 840 hours in the bench test. The fractography investigation indicates that fatigue is the dominant failure mechanism of the crankshaft. It is found that the fatigue crack mainly initiated at the fillet of the crankweb between the 6th main journal and 6th crankpin. The fatigue crack initiation area lies outside the induction surface hardened zone. From detailed metallographic inspection, abnormal microstructure containing Widmannstatten was found in the fatigue crack initiation area and the 5th main journal, while that was not found at the severely deformed crankweb. Since the region containing Widmannstatten has lower hardness, the root cause of the failure may be that the abnormal microstructure lowered the fatigue strength at the stress concentrated fillet. The crankshaft prematurely fractured under the complex stress condition in the bench test.

Kurzfassung

Bei einer Sechszylinder-Kurbelwelle eines 12L-Dieselmotors kam es nach ca. 840 Stunden auf dem Teststand zum Bruch. Die fraktographische Untersuchung deutet darauf hin, dass Materialermüdung der vorherrschende Versagensmechanismus beim Bruch der Kurbelwelle ist. Es wurde festgestellt, dass der Ermüdungsbruch hauptsächlich an der Hohlkehle der Kurbelwange zwischen dem 6. Grundlagerzapfen und dem 6. Kurbelzapfen eingeleitet wurde. Der Anbruchbereich, von dem der Ermüdungsbruch ausgeht, liegt außerhalb der induktionsgehärteten Randschicht. Bei der eingehenden metallographischen Untersuchung wurde eine Gefügeanomalie in Form von Widmannstätten-Gefüge im Anbruchbereich sowie im 5. Grundlagerzapfen festgestellt, jedoch nicht an der stark verformten Kurbelwange. Da der Bereich mit Widmannstätten-Gefüge eine geringere Härte aufweist, könnte die Hauptversagensursache darin liegen, dass die Gefügeanomalie zu einer Abnahme der Dauerfestigkeit an der Hohlkehle geführt hat, an der hohe Spannungskonzentrationen auftreten. Aufgrund des komplexen Spannungszustands kam es zum vorzeitigen Versagen der Kurbelwelle auf dem Teststand.

Keywords: Crankshaft; Fatigue failure; Widmannstatten; Alloy segregation bands
Schlagwörter: Kurbelwelle; Ermüdungsbruch; Widmannstätten-Gefüge; Seigerung von Legierungselementen

About the authors

H. Y. Zhang

major in material science and technology, engaged in failure analysis of metal components, working at Materials Failure Analysis Center, Shichangxu Innovation Center for Advanced Materials, Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

S. Qu

director of the Materials Failure Analysis Center, Shi-changxu Innovation Center for Advanced Materials, Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

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Received: 2020-10-26
Accepted: 2020-12-17
Published Online: 2021-05-14
Published in Print: 2021-05-31

© 2021 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston, Germany

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https://doi.org/10.1515/pm-2021-0020
Keywords for this article
Crankshaft; Fatigue failure; Widmannstatten; Alloy segregation bands

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Contents
  2. Editorial
  3. Conductive and Edge Retaining Embedding Compounds: Influence of Graphite Content in Compounds on Specimen’s SEM and EBSD Performance
  4. Atom Probe Tomography of the Oxide Layer of an Austenitic Stainless CrMnN-Steel
  5. Failure analysis
  6. Failure Analysis of a Diesel Engine Crankshaft
  7. Picture of the Month
  8. Picture of the Month
  9. PM-News
  10. PM-News
  11. Meeting Diary
  12. Meeting Diary
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