NOMBRE DEL LIBRO: METALLURGY AND APPLICATIONS

AUTOR: DAVID T. LLEWELLYN

CAPITULO DEL LIBRO: CAPITULO 3 ENGINEERING STEEL
TEMA: BEARING STEELS
NOMBRE: VIVIANA CONTRERAS CRUZ CODIGO: 181871

ENGINEERING STEELS
The term engineering steels applies to a wide range of compositions that are generally
heat treated to produce high strength levels, i.e. tensile strengths greater than 750
N/mm 2. These steels are subjected to high service stresses and are typified by the
compositions that are used in automotive engine and transmission components, steam
turbines, bearings, rails and wire ropes. As well as carbon and low-alloy grades,
engineering steels also embrace the maraging compositions that are generally based
on 18% Ni and which are capable of developing tensile strengths greater than 2000
N/mm 2.
Engineering steels are concerned primarily with the generation of a particular level of
strength in a specific section size or ruling section. This introduces the concept of
hardenability which is concerned with the ease with which a steel can harden in depth
rather than the attainment of a specific level of hardness/strength. In turn, this relates to
the effects of alloying elements on hardenability and the influence of cooling rate on a
specific composition or section size. Much of the information that is available today on
hardenability concepts and the metallurgical factors affecting hardenability was
generated in the United States in the 1930s with names such as Grossman, Bain,
Grange, Jominy and Lamont featuring prominently in the literature. This period also
coincided with the introduction of isothermal transformation diagrams which paved the
way to the detailed understanding of the decomposition of austenite and a qualitative
indication of hardenability.
The machining of automotive components can account for up to 60% of the total cost
and therefore major effort has been devoted to the development of engineering steels
with improved machinability. In the main, these developments have been focused on
the traditional resulphurized grades but with the addition of elements such as calcium
and tellurium for sulphide shape control and improved transverse properties.
In summary, the author's overall perception of this sector has been one of continuing
effort to achieve cost reduction, initially through the use of cheaper alloying elements
but latterly via the concept of lower through costs and involving a reduction in the cost
of heat treatment and machining.
BEARING STEELS
Bearings constitute vital components in most items of machinery, permitting accurate
movement under low frictional conditions. In addition, they are also required to transmit
high loads and provide long service lives under arduous fatigue conditions. Stemming
mainly from the requirement of the aeroengine industry, major effort has been devoted
to improving the level and consistency of bearing fatigue performance and, with the
adoption of cleaner steelmaking techniques, it is claimed that bearing life has increased
by a factor of 100 since the early 1940s. zz The grade of steel adopted internationally
for through-hardened bearings is SAE 52100, the 1.0% C 1.5% Cr composition. This
material is generally solution treated at a temperature of about 850~ followed by oil
quenching and tempering in the range 180-250~ This results in a microstructure of
lightly tempered martensite, primary (undissolved) carbides and up to about 5%
retained austenite. For larger beatings, carburizing grades such as SAE 4720 (2% Ni-
Mo) are adopted. In the United States, M50 (0.8% C, 4.0% Cr, 4.25% Mo) is used
extensively in main shaft gas turbine bearings, helicopter transmission bearings and
other aerospace applications. In 1983, Bamberger 23 introduced a variant of M50 steel
which was designated M-50 NiL. This is a 0.12% C 3.5% Ni 4.0% Cr 4.25% Mo 1.2% V
composition which is case hardened to produce bearings with high fracture toughness
and long life.
Bearing fatigue testing
Whereas bearings are required to have long endurance lives, perhaps extending over
several years, laboratory evaluation tests must be accelerated such that a meaningful
result can be obtained in a matter of days. As such, these tests are undertaken at
higher loads and speeds than those experienced under typical service conditions.
Various bearing fatigue tests have been developed which are capable of assessing the
performance of bearing steels in the form of balls, washers, cones and cylinders but in
the UK the Unisteel washer test ~ is still in operation following its introduction in the
early 1950s. A sectional view of the machine is shown in Figure 3.33. The test washer
measures 76 mm o.d. x 51 mm i.d. x 5.5 mm thick and forms the top race of a standard
thrust bearing. The cage of the standard bearing is operated with only nine balls
instead of the normal 18 in order to provide a maximum calculated Hertzian stress of
3725 N/mm 2 at a relatively low load. Both sides of the specimen are tested.

Figure 3.33 Sectional view of Unisteel Bearing Fatigue Rig (a) balls; (b) test bearing;
(c) standard thrust race (After Johnson and Sewell ~)
Factors affecting fatigue performance
Johnson and Sewell u were among the earliest investigators to establish a good
quantitative relationship between the bearing fatigue performance of SAE 52100 and
inclusion content. The inclusions act as stress raisers, forming incipient cracks which
then propagate under stress reversals until a fatigue pit (or spall) is formed on the
surface of the component. As illustrated in Figure 3.34, Johnson and Sewell showed
that oxide inclusions such as alumina and silicates have an adverse effect on fatigue
performance, whereas sulphides appear to be benefi-cial. These authors showed that a
better correlation between fatigue performance and inclusion content was obtained
when titanium nitride was included in the inclusion count such that the inclusion
parameter was based on:
Number of alumina + silicate + TiN/2
Oxides are considered to be detrimental because they are brittle and, as illustrated by
Brooksbank and Andrews, 25 they also become surrounded by tensile stresses on
cooling from elevated temperatures due to differences in the thermal expansion
characteristics between the oxide particles and the matrix. The beneficial effect of
sulphides is generally ascribed to the fact that they tend to encapsulate the more
angular oxide inclusions, thereby reducing the detrimental tensile stresses. However,
the beneficial effects of sulphides are often disputed and some hold the view that they
are non-detrimental rather than positively beneficial. Other workers have indicated that
TiN inclusions have a relatively small effect on bearing fatigue performance and such
an effect is consistent with the tesselated stress calculations of Brooksbank and
Andrews.
Given the importance of inclusion content in relation to bearing fatigue performance,
major attention has been given to the development of reliable methods of

Figure 3.34 Relationship between average life and inclusion content: counts based on
total inclusions observed (x750) in 516fields representing a total area of"9 mm 2 (After
Johnson and Sewel124
inclusion assessment. For many years, both the steelmakers and bearing
manufacturers have employed the Jerkontoret (JK) method which is specified in ASTM
Practice for Determining the Inclusion Content of Steel-E45. This rates a steel in terms
of the worst field of the 100 fields that are examined against standard charts. However,
as stated by Hampshire and King, 26 this technique is capable of ignoring the fact that
a steel with 100 equally bad fields would be ranked the same as a steel with only one
bad field. Therefore a new method was required that took into account both inclusion
severity and frequency and such a procedure is the SAM counting technique. This is
detailed in Supplementary Requirements $2 of ASTM A 295-84. The SAM procedure
concentrates on the frequency of Type B aluminates and Type D globular oxides
because these tend to be the most damaging inclusions to bearing fatigue
performance. Type A manganese sulphides are disregarded as being insignificant to
fatigue life and Type C silicates are ignored because they occur infrequently in bearing
steels.
The SAM count is regarded as a major improvement over the JK method but major
strides have been made in introducing cleaner steels and a large number of fields must
now be examined in order to obtain a statistically valid assessment of inclusion content.
Attention is being given to the use of automatic image analysis techniques but these
require very careful polishing procedures and, again, problems are being experienced
with these techniques in the accurate assessment of steels with low oxygen and
sulphur contents.
.
Modern steelmaking methods
During the 1950s, vacuum degassing facilities were introduced which resulted in a
marked improvement in the cleanness of bearing steels. By the early 1960s,
Engineering steels 253 argon shrouding of the molten stream was adopted which
prevented reoxidation, leading to a further reduction in the non-metallic inclusion
content. In the mid1970s, many steelmakers introduced vacuum induction melting and
vacuum arc remelting (VIM, VAR) to produce exceptionally clean steels. However,
dramatic improvements in cleanness have also been obtained in bulk steelmaking
processes for bearing grades, particularly with the introduction of secondary
steelmaking facilities. Davies et al. 27 have described the facilities that have been
installed at Stocksbridge Engineering Steels for the production of beating steels and
these are summarized in Table 3.12. Steels from a 100 t electric arc furnace are
processed via a vacuum arc degassing (VAD) unit while melts from a 150 t furnace are
transferred to a ladle furnace (LF), equipped with argon stirring, arc heating and
alloying facilities. Care is also taken to minimize the inclusion content with the use of
high alumina and graphitized magnesia refractories.
The SAM count rating for alumina (Type B) and globular oxides (Type D) on casts of
SAE 52100, produced by Stocksbridge Engineering Steels between 1984 and 1986,
have been monitored by Hampshire and King. 2~ These data are shown in Figure 3.35.
The major decrease in Type D inclusions in April 1985 coincides with the introduction
of the ladle steelmaking facility and it is reported that individual Type D SAM counts
since that time have rarely exceeded a value of 3. On the other hand, the introduction
of ladle steelmaking did not have a dramatic effect on the incidence of Type B alumina
inclusions, the SAM count being between 3 and 8 over the period shown. Mean oxygen
contents of less than about 10 ppm can now be obtained via the ladle refining route,
i.e. approaching that produced by vacuum arc remelting.
Figure 3.35 SAM counts of steel delivered from major steel supplier (After Hampshire
and King 26)