Fatigue Strength of Heat-Treated Fe-Cu-C Steels with Sharply Notched Specimens

摘要

In the present study unnotched und notched specimens of Fe-1.5 Cu and Fe-1.5 Cu-0.6 C were compacted from tooling existing in the European industry and sintered to preserve the as-sintered surface for testing. The sintered specimens were heat treated different ways, according to carbon content: Samples without carbon were carbonitrided, oil quenched and tempered, whereas the specimens containing carbon were austenitized, quenched and tempered. Fully reversed plane bending fatigue tests with unnotched and notched specimens were performed after heat treatment. The results are compared with smooth and notched samples in as-sintered and heat treated conditions and permit a systematic overview of the effect of notches on the fati-gue behavior of an important group of sintered steels.