J Fail. Anal. and Preven.
(2017) 17:189–194
DOI 10.1007/s11668-017-0236-0
CASE HISTORY—PEER-REVIEWED
Failure of a Trunnion Axle on a Hard Suspension Multi-axle
Trailer
Joseph A. Lemberg . Brett D. Ellis . Eric P. Guyer
Submitted: 19 December 2016 / Published online: 6 February 2017
 ASM International 2017
Abstract The failure analysis of a trunnion axle on a hard
suspension multi-axle trailer is presented. All reported
failures have occurred in an unloaded state very shortly
after being put into service at or near the top of the trunnion
axle in close proximity to a welded round plate. Analyses
indicated a pre-existing flaw in the heat-affected zone near
the weld. The unloaded state of the trailer, which may have
exacerbated the dynamic loading, coupled with the limited
damping provided by the hard suspension was likely the
driving force for this failure.
Keywords Brittle fracture  Failure analysis 
Heat-affected zone  Steel
Background
The trunnion axle on the suspension assembly for the road-
side of the front wing jeep on a multi-axle trailer failed,
releasing the wheelset as shown in Fig. 1. It was deter-
mined that the trunnion axle, which acted as a hard
suspension for the suspension assembly, separated near a
weld attaching the trunnion axle to the round plate of the
suspension assembly, as shown schematically in Fig. 2.
The subject trailer was manufactured approximately two
years earlier and sat unused until the time of the incident.
J. A. Lemberg (&)  B. D. Ellis  E. P. Guyer
Exponent, Inc., 3350 Peachtree Road NE, Suite 1125, Atlanta,
GA 30326, USA
e-mail: jlemberg@exponent.com
B. D. Ellis
Mechanical Engineering Technology, University of Maine,
5711 Boardman Hall, Orono, ME 04469, USA
The trailer was reportedly traveling empty to its first load
pickup when the failure occurred.
Similar failures have been reported for this type of
trailer. These failures were not limited to the road-side
front wing jeeps. All reported failures occurred at or near
the top of the trunnion axle in close proximity to the weld
attaching the trunnion axle to the suspension assembly
(Fig. 2), while trailers were towed in an unloaded
configuration.
Analysis
Following visual inspection and photo-documentation, the
subject fractured trunnion axle was prepared for fracto-
graphic inspection via optical microscopy and scanning
electron microscopy (SEM). Cross sections of the frac-
ture surface were then prepared in general accordance
with ASTM E3 for metallographic and microhardness
analyses [1]. Chemical analysis of the axle material
indicated that the axle conformed to AISI 1026, one of
the alloys listed in ASTM A519 for cold-drawn seamless
tubes [2]. The results of the chemical analysis are pre-
sented in Table 1.
Fractographic analysis indicated that the failure propa-
gated as the result of a single overload event and originated
at what appeared to be a pre-existing flaw. Examination of
the fracture surface revealed no obvious indications of
fatigue or crack arrest, which suggests the fast fracture
occurred during a single event. A representative pho-
tograph of the fracture surface is shown in Fig. 3.
SEM analysis indicated the presence of a pre-existing
flaw, which was covered with oxide, as shown in Figs. 4
and 5. The flaw was approximately 10 mm wide and
approximately 1 mm deep at its greatest extent as shown in
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Fig. 1 The failed trunnion axle, which released the rearward road-
side front wing jeep wheelset

Fig. 3 Representative photograph of the fracture surface. The crack

initiated near the 12 o’clock position and showed no obvious signs of
fatigue or crack arrest

Fig. 2 Schematic of the suspension assembly, including the trunnion

axle (white arrow). The incident failure occurred near the top of the
trunnion axle (12 o’clock orientation) in close proximity to the round
plate (yellow arrow) (Color figure online)

Table 1 Chemical analysis of the subject axle

Measured ASTM A519 specification for AISI
Element composition (wt.%) 1026 (wt.%) Fig. 4 Low-magnification SEM image of the near-origin region of
the fracture surface. The yellow line demarcates the oxidized pre-
C 0.28 0.22–0.28 existing flaw from the subsequent overload failure. Higher magnifi-
S 0.012 0.05 max cation images of the oxidized region (e.g., orange box) and the
Al 0.02 … primary fracture (e.g., blue box) are shown in Figs. 5 and 6,
respectively (Color figure online)
Cr 0.06 …
Cu 0.11 …
Mn 0.62 0.60–0.90 Fig. 4. Outside of this oxidized region, the fracture con-
Ni 0.05 … sisted of transgranular cleavage with very isolated regions
P 0.015 0.04 max of ductile fracture. A representative micrograph of the
Si 0.28 … primary fracture surface is shown in Fig. 6.
Fe Balance Balance Two metallographic cross sections were prepared from
the fracture surface: (1) containing the origin and (2)

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Fig. 5 Representative high-magnification image of the oxidized
region of the fracture surface (i.e., orange box in Fig. 4). The
presence of oxide suggests that this region represents a pre-existing
flaw (Color figure online)
Fig. 6 Representative high-magnification image of the primary
fracture region of the fracture surface (i.e., blue box in Fig. 4). The
fracture was predominantly transgranular cleavage with very isolated
regions of ductile fracture (Color figure online)
situated 180 from the origin. Prior to etching, micro-
hardness profiles through the axle wall thickness and along
the length of the sample at the mid-wall were created in
general accordance with ASTM E384 [3]. For both traces,
Vickers microhardness indents were spaced every 2 mm.
The average Vickers hardness was approximately
HV207 ± 8 (corresponds to approximately 93 Rockwell
Hardness B). Plots of the through-thickness hardness pro-
file and the mid-wall longitudinal hardness profile are
shown in Figs. 7 and 8, respectively.
After hardness testing, samples were etched in a 2%
Nital solution to reveal the microstructure. In general, the
191
Fig. 7 Vickers microhardness as a function of distance from the OD.
The solid black line represents the average Vickers hardness value,
while the dashed lines represent ±2 SDs
Fig. 8 Vickers microhardness along the longitudinal tube axis at the
mid-wall as a function of distance from the fracture surface. The solid
black line represents the average Vickers hardness value while the
dashed lines represent ±2 SDs
subject axle exhibited a mixed ferrite–pearlite microstruc-
ture as shown in Fig. 9. However, the origin exhibited a
highly localized altered microstructure in the vicinity of the
pre-existing flaw. This region exhibited spheroidized car-
bides and ferrite grain refinement as shown in Figs. 10
and 11. Transgranular fracture was evident confirming the
fractographic analysis. Microstructural analyses were per-
formed in accordance with ASTM E112 (grain size) [4]
and ASTM E562 (pearlite volume fraction) [5]. The
average ferrite grain was 16 microns, while the average
pearlite colony was 11 microns. A volume fraction of 40%
pearlite was calculated.
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Fig. 9 Representative micrograph of the base microstructure of the Fig. 11 Higher magnification image of the near-origin region of the
incident axle. The microstructure consists of a mixture of ferrite incident axle. Spheroidized carbides and refined ferrite grains are
(light) and pearlite (dark) observed

Fig. 10 Representative micrograph of the near-origin microstructure.

A highly localized region of altered microstructure consisting of Fig. 12 Schematic of axial displacements and stresses for an axial
spheroidized carbides and refined ferrite grains is observed at the wave interacting with a free boundary (left edge) of a thin bar [7].
fracture origin (red line). This region is shown in higher magnification Time increases for subplots (a–d)
in Fig. 11 (Color figure online)

Discussion Pre-existing Flaw

Four factors were determined to be contributory to this As discussed above, a pre-existing flaw was observed at
failure: the initiation point of the fracture. The flaw was oxi-
1. Pre-existing flaw. dized, indicating that it had been exposed to the
2. Dynamic loading. environment for some time before the failure occurred.
3. Strain-rate sensitivity. The microstructure at the origin was altered from the
4. Microstructure. base metal and consisted of spheroidized carbides and
refined ferrite grains. The grain refinement and
A brief discussion of each of these factors is provided here. spheroidization was likely the result of excessive heat

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input during welding to attach the trunnion axle to the
round plate of the suspension assembly. Excessive heat
input (overheating) is well known to cause microstruc-
ture changes and potentially localized embrittlement
[6]. At some point, a surface-breaking crack formed in
the overheated region, leading to a stress concentration
at the top of the subject axle.
Dynamic Loading
Dynamic axial loads may have initiated within the
trunnion axle if the trailer wheels struck a pothole or
other debris, though no specific information regarding
the roadway conditions was available for this analysis.
An unloaded trailer configuration could have exacer-
bated any dynamic loads for a variety of reasons,
including but not limited to the trailer traveling at
greater velocities, less weight to keep the trailer wheels
in contact with the road, or a combination of both. The
lack of damping afforded by a hard suspension may
have limited the amount of energy dissipated by the
suspension. With low levels of damping, axial waves
within a trunnion axle (such as those induced by striking
a pot hole or other road debris) would reflect off the
unconstrained axle ends, reversing the sign of the stress
(i.e., compressive waves reflecting as tensile waves). A
schematic of this process is shown in Fig. 12. The
tensile stresses caused by dynamic loading could cause
a pre-existing crack to propagate radially as observed
for the subject axle.
Strain-Rate Sensitivity
The strain-rate sensitivity of mild steels, such as AISI
1026, is coupled with the influence of dynamic loads on the
stress state. The yield strength and fracture toughness of
these steels is known to be strain-rate dependent. As the
strain rate increases, the yield strength increases while the
fracture toughness decreases [8]. High strain rates are well
known for inducing brittle-like behavior in materials that
are normally ductile [9].
With respect to the transgranular fracture morphology,
the brittle-to-ductile transition temperature (BDTT) for this
material was considered. It is important to note that the
ambient temperature when this failure occurred was
approximately 6 C, so it is possible that the trailer was
operating below the BDTT. The BDTT was not experi-
mentally determined for this material, but an estimate of
the BDTT can be made using the empirical relationship
developed by Pickering [10], i.e.,
193
1=2
BDTT ¼ 19 þ 44 ðSiÞ þ 700 ðNf Þ þ 2:2 ðPVF Þ
 11:5 ðd1=2 Þ
ðEq 1Þ
where Si is the silicon content (%), Nf is the free nitrogen
content, PVF is the volume fraction of pearlite (%), and d is
the ferrite grain size in mm. No free nitrogen was reported
in the material based on the chemical analysis performed.
However, assuming that the free nitrogen was at the
detection limit for the LECO technique [11, 12], Picker-
ing’s equation would predict a BDTT of approximately
6 C for this steel. Others have reported a BDTT of
approximately 1 C for AISI 1026 material [13]. Due to the
lack of information provided on the material for this
investigation (i.e., no material specification was provided),
it may not be possible to deconvolve the effects of strain
rate from the effects of temperature.
Microstructure
The base microstructure may also have contributed to this
failure, though only with regard to crack propagation (i.e.,
the transgranular nature of the fracture), as the pre-existing
flaw likely played a greater role. It has been observed that
coarser ferrite grains and pearlite colonies have a tendency
to result in transgranular fracture modes [14]. This occurs
as a result of constraint of the more ductile ferrite phase by
the hard carbides comprising the pearlite colonies [14, 15].
Ferrite grain size is known to affect the BDTT via a Hall–
Petch type relationship (i.e., d1/2) [10]. The manufacturer
of the subject trailer had no hardness specification in place
at the time of the failure; this may have resulted in product
variation provided by the tube supplier. Thus, different
microstructures may have been present within the material
which may have been more or less susceptible to trans-
granular failure. Furthermore, high carbon contents (more
than 0.25%) are known to reduce fracture toughness by
allowing for easy cleavage nucleation [16].
The microstructural length scales may have contributed
to the observed scatter in the microhardness data. The
average Vickers hardness indent diagonal length was 67
microns. While this length is greater than the average
ferrite grain size and pearlite colony size, some individual
pearlite colonies were in excess of 100 microns, as shown
in Fig. 9, which may have skewed individual data points.
Conclusions
A pre-existing flaw was observed at the initiation point of
this fracture. The microstructure in the immediate vicinity
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of the pre-existing flaw varied from the base metal and
contained spheroidized carbides and refined ferrite grains.
This variation in microstructure was determined to be the
result of heat input during welding. The pre-existing flaw
acted as a starter notch for the overload failure that
occurred. No obvious signs of fatigue or crack arrest were
observed, suggesting that this failure was a single overload
event. The fracture was predominantly transgranular,
which suggests that a dynamic load (e.g., pothole or debris
strike) led to the failure. Mild steels, such as AISI 1026, are
known to be strain-rate sensitive, exhibiting brittle behav-
ior under dynamic loads, but the base microstructure
cannot be ruled out as a contributory factor to the trans-
granular nature of this failure. Coarser ferrite grains and
pearlite colonies are known to elevate the BDTT of fer-
ritic–pearlitic steels, but the localized microstructural
variations of the fracture origin likely played a greater role
in this failure. As a result of this work, it was suggested that
the manufacturer implements tighter material tolerances as
well as employ more stringent welding practices.
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