Engineering Failure Analysis 109 (2020) 104326

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Engineering Failure Analysis

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/engfailanal

Failure analysis of a sugarcane loader rear shaft

T
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Thiago Figueiredo Azevedo , Weslley Rick Viana Sampaio,
Eduardo César Bezerra Câmara, Gustavo Dória Lima,
Wisnner Franklin dos Santos Silva, Simone da Silva Ramos
Federal Institute of Alagoas, Laboratory of Mechanics, Campus Coruripe, Coruripe, AL, Brazil

A R T IC LE I N F O ABS TRA CT

Keywords: This work deals with the failure analysis of rear differential shaft of a sugarcane loader that broke
Failure analysis in less than a year of use. For the analysis of fracture, fracture surface macrographs, micro-
Numerical simulation hardness profile and metallographic analysis were realized. It was also carried out a numerical
Sugarcane loader simulation of shaft estimating the external stresses applied during use. The numerical simulation
Microstructural characterization
was performed in linear elastic regime. The microstructure on the surface is composed of mar-
tensite and ferrite caused by the superficial hardening heat treatment and in the core formed by
perlite and ferrite. The microhardness profile showed a hardness peak of 648 HV in the per-
ipheral region of the shaft. From the analysis of the fracture surface it was possible to observe
that the failure occurred in unidirectional fatigue of high cycle, and we observed several ratchet
marks along the rounding radius of the shaft. The numerical simulation permitted to quantify the
stresses and showed that rounding radius in the shaft base was the cause of failure.

1. Introduction

Sugarcane loaders machines are often used by ethanol and sugarcane plants. These machines work in a system of many hours in
plantations and in large areas collecting all sugarcane to feed the process of making ethanol and sugar. Thus, many of these machines
end up damaging due to large loads and external stresses working mainly on four shafts [1].
The loaders and sugarcane wagons trucks roam freely in the fields of plantations and the road planeness is not ideal. Their shafts,
where the wheels are connected, require enough stresses causing some fractures during operation [1].
Shaft are connected within machines to perform two important functions, they transmit torque from variance to wheel through
planetary gear arrangement, and they maintain the position of the wheels in relation to each other and to the body of the machine
[2]. The shafts are installed in the tire’s wheel well near the differentials and stretched across the bottom of the vehicle [3].
For each application the static strength and long-term durability must follow the specifications, whilst avoiding too much ad-
ditional weight and thus lead to component failure [4]. Thus, the shaft of these machines must be manufactured of Cr and Mo (AISI
4140 and 4340) steels alloys because of their high performance [5–7].
This article studies the failure of the sugarcane loader rear shaft that suddenly broke during operation in less than a year of use.
After the failure, it was observed that the crack started next to the rounding radius, just above the bearing (Fig. 1). The suspicion of
this failure is associated with the moment of unloading of sugarcane, where in some situations there is a slope of the loader being
supported in only three wheels. After unloading, the fourth wheel touches the ground with a very excessive stress and causes the
failure.

⁎
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: thiago.azevedo@ifal.edu.br (T.F. Azevedo).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engfailanal.2019.104326
Received 27 May 2019; Received in revised form 26 July 2019; Accepted 7 November 2019
Available online 09 November 2019
1350-6307/ © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
T.F. Azevedo, et al. Engineering Failure Analysis 109 (2020) 104326

Fig. 1. Representation of the rear shaft before failure in (a). Detail of the shaft tip in (b). The arrows show where the crack began.

The objective of this study was to analyze the premature failure of a sugarcane loader shaft. Fracture surface analysis, me-
tallographic analysis, microhardness profile and modeling by numerical simulation were performed in an attempt to observe the
stresses caused in the shaft during mechanical application.
Recent studies, using numerical simulation for gathering of failure causes, have shown a powerful tool that allows the virtual
operation of a system under controlled conditions which assists the observation of failures causes very close to real conditions [8–10].

2. Material and methods

2.1. Material

The shaft was manufactured of 42CrMo4 steel (AISI 4140H), and it was quenched and tempered presenting a surface hardness
from 49 HRC to 54 HRC (or from 498 HV to 577 HV) and in the core, a hardness from 27 HRC to 35 HRC (or from 279 HV to 345 HV)
[11]. The Table 1 shows the chemical composition of AISI 4140H steel [12]. Chrome-molybdenum steel (AISI 4140H) has plenty of
attractive properties in the manufacture of metal-mechanical industry components that require high mechanical strength and
hardness. It has yield strength varying from 410 MPa to 965 MPa, obtaining a maximum tensile strength of 1650 MPa [13].

2.2. Fracture analysis

The fracture surface was submitted to a simple cleaning with water, liquid soap and a soft bristle brush. Macroscopic images of the
fracture surface were performed by a digital camera (Canon Power Shot SX530 HS). A fracture sample was analyzed by Scanning
Electron Microscopy (SEM – Tescan Vega3).

2.3. Characterizations

2.3.1. Microstructure
The metallographic sample was obtained according to the longitudinal direction of the shaft, in the normal plane to the fracture
surface. The sample was prepared to analyze the microstructure near the region identified as one of the several fracture nucleation
points and in the innermost region in the core. Optical microscopy was applied (ZEISS Axio SCOPE A.1). The sample was etched with
Nital 3%.

2.3.2. Microhardness
The metallographic sample was conducted to the Vickers (HV) microhardness test (ISH-TDV 1000). A microhardness profile was
carried out from the surface zone until the shaft core. Altogether, 72 indentations were done. The profile initiated at 0.5 mm from the
surface and the subsequent indentations were evaluated with 1.0 mm of distance. Approaching the inflection zone, the distance was

Table 1
Chemical composition of AISI 4140H steel [12].
Steel AISI C Si Mn Cr Mo P S Fe

42CrMo4 4140H 0.43 0.26 0.74 1.09 0.25 0.01 < 0.001 Balance

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T.F. Azevedo, et al. Engineering Failure Analysis 109 (2020) 104326

Fig. 2. Numerical Simulation. In (a) shaft sketch in 3D simulation and in (b) sketch of shaft with bearing in 3D simulation.

changed to increments of 0.5 mm. When the profile approached the core and the microhardness showed stabilization, the distance
was changed again to 1.0 mm.

2.4. Numerical simulation

A sketch was performed in the 3D numerical simulation. The simulation was performed in the linear elastic regime using
structured hexagonal and tetragonal elements. The elastic modulus was 200 GPa and Poisson’s ratio of 0.3.
The first simulation was carried out on the shaft design (without bearing), Fig. 2a, and the second simulation was carried out on
the shaft design with bearing (in rigid body), Fig. 2b. The objective of this simulation was to compare the stress distribution on the
two conditions.
From the metallographic sample, the rounding radius was obtained where the failure occurred, in order to obtain a reliable
measure for the model (Fig. 3).
The shaft was restricted in the medial cross section of the working zone. A sugarcane loader exerts on its four shafts an average
load of 4000 kgf, according to the manufacturer's technical specifications catalogue [14]. The simulation load (L in the Fig. 4) of 1000
kgf was applied on the end of the shaft (Fig. 4). In the Fig. 5, it is presented the mesh of simulated shaft. The mesh attributions are
shown in the Table 2. The mesh refinement was realized for the rounding radius.

3. Results

3.1. Fracture analysis

Fig. 6 presents the shaft fracture surface studied. The shaft has a hardening layer of approximately 8 mm depth. Through the
fracture surface, the shaft in operation was subjected to bending deformation. The shaft shows multiple ratchet marks which are
typical fatigue nucleation indicatives.
The crack propagated on the transverse plane of the shaft during operation. Beach marks can be seen on the propagation surface,

Fig. 3. Measure of the rounding radius (10 mm).

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T.F. Azevedo, et al. Engineering Failure Analysis 109 (2020) 104326

Fig. 4. Boundary conditions.

Fig. 5. Mesh of simulated shaft.

Table 2
The mesh quantification for the two workpieces.
Piece No of elements No of nodes Mesh

Shaft 10.843 32.145 20

Bearing 660 4.048 8

which is a characteristic of high cycle fatigue. In addition, a rough final rupture zone between the beach marks and the brittle fracture
is observed.
Fig. 7 shows in details the hardening surface and beach marks. The superficial hardening caused a plane and brittle fracture and
secondary cracks were observed. While the shaft core has beach marks with characteristic of high cycle fatigue.
The SEM analysis indicated the three microregions characteristic of fatigue fracture. The Fig. 8 presents (from left to right) the

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T.F. Azevedo, et al. Engineering Failure Analysis 109 (2020) 104326

Fig. 6. The macrography of the fracture surface.

Fig. 7. In details the hardening surface, secondary cracks and beach marks.

crack origin, propagation with beach marks and rupture zone with the micromechanisms of fracture (dimples).

3.2. Microstructural evolution

The Fig. 9 presented two types of microstructures. On the shaft surface, a layer of approximately 8 mm depth, a microstructure of
martensite and ferrite caused by the superficial hardening heat treatment (Fig. 9a) and in the shaft core, a microstructure of perlite
and ferrite (Fig. 9b).

3.3. Microhardness

The hardened layer has 8 mm depth. In the microhardness profile (Fig. 10) was showed a peak of 648 HV (in 6 mm) in the region

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T.F. Azevedo, et al. Engineering Failure Analysis 109 (2020) 104326

Fig. 8. SEM images showing in (a) crack origin (magnification of 100×), in (b) propagation of the crack with the appearance of beach marks
(magnification of 40×) and in (c) fibrous final fracture with emergence of microcavities (dimples) (magnification of 1360×).

Fig. 9. Microstructure of the shaft. In (a) the shaft surface composed of ferrite and martensite caused by the superficial hardening heat treatment. In
(b) microstructure of the core composed of ferrite and perlite.

hardened by heat treatment (quenching followed by tempering). From this peak the microhardness began to decrease. After this, the
microhardness was stabilized near 285 HV in the core region. Fig. 10 shows the microhardness profile.

3.4. Numerical simulation

The simulation results of both models (with and without bearing) are presented, respectively, in Figs. 11 and 12. For the first
model, the maximum Von Mises stress of 99 MPa occurs in the region of the bending radius at the shaft base. This result is in
accordance to the bending stress of a free shaft.
With the presence of the bearing, at the shaft base, a stress concentration of 169 MPa was observed in the rounding radius
(showed in Fig. 3). This value represents an increase of approximately 71% in relation to the previous model.

4. Discussions

In this paper a failure analysis of a sugarcane loader rear shaft was carried out. The main cause of the failure is associated to stress
concentration along the rounding radius caused by the coupling of bearing and excessive external workload. During the use of the
sugarcane loader, there is the unloading of sugarcane, with this a slight inclination coming out of the ground in one of the four shafts
was observed. Its return to the ground occurs sharply and repetitively, precisely in the analyzed shaft.
From the fracture surface, it was observed the presence of several ratchet marks considered nucleation points in bending stresses
in detail in the Fig. 6. The extensive surface propagation indicates low external load and high stress concentration at the section
change caused by rounding radius. Thus, the shaft fractured by fatigue and its appearance is characteristic of fracture by uni-
directional bending [11].
Shafts failures are caused by stresses concentrations and welds [1,15,16]. In certain situations, the welding process is still more
relevant than stress concentrations due to section change [16].

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T.F. Azevedo, et al. Engineering Failure Analysis 109 (2020) 104326

Fig. 10. Vickers microhardness profile (HV) from the superficial hardness zone and approaching the shaft core.

Fig. 11. The original model under bending showed Von Mises stress of 99 MPa in the curvature radius near the shaft base.

It is possible to observe a correlation between the results of the fracture surface and the microhardness profile, since the surface
treated thermally by superficial hardening (hardening layer of 8 mm depth in Fig. 6) has its hardness behavior evidenced by the
microhardness profile up to 8 mm (Fig. 9). This could be observed by microstructural differences, similar to studies of Das et al. and
Lv et al. [3,17].
In the numerical simulation, we observed a significant increase of 71% in relation to the stress concentration on the shaft with
bearing, but did not predict the cases of high impacts caused in the return of the shaft to the ground during the unloading of
sugarcane, which for sure promotes an increase of stress, and thus the emergence of ratchet marks.

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T.F. Azevedo, et al. Engineering Failure Analysis 109 (2020) 104326

Fig. 12. Model with bearing under bending stress. Stress concentration of 169 MPa in the rounding radius.

5. Conclusions

This study was carried out to highlight the causes of failure of a sugarcane loader rear shaft that was subjected to a bending caused
by the impact of the shaft with the soil during the unloading of sugarcane. The fracture was due to the unidirectional bending failure
nucleated in the rounding radius that coincides with the upper surface of the bearing, providing an elevation of the stress con-
centration. The numerical simulation was able to present, that the rounding radius acted as a stress concentrator and promoted the
failure of the shaft in a short period of time.

Declaration of Competing Interest

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

Acknowledgement

The authors thank the IFAL campus Coruripe and Maceió by the use of the metallography laboratory and SEM analysis.

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