Uncovering the white etching area and crack formation mechanism in bearing steel

Journal article (2023)

Authors

Ksenija Nikolic Universiteit Gent, Strategisch Initiatief Materialen

V. Mattos Ferreira Team Maria Santofimia Navarro - Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering

Loïc Malet Ecole Polytechnique de Bruxelles

T. Depover Universiteit Gent

K. Verbeken Universiteit Gent

R.H. Petrov Team Maria Santofimia Navarro - Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering , Universiteit Gent

Research Group

Team Maria Santofimia Navarro (Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering) (TU Delft)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matchar.2023.112659

TEM EBSD Rolling contact fatigue FIB Bearing steel White etching area White etching cracks

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Published Date

2023

Language

English

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Faculty

Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering

Department

Materials Science and Engineering

Research Group

Team Maria Santofimia Navarro

Abstract

The microstructure of a damaged bearing from the field was characterized in this work with the intention to better understand microstructural features behind formation of White Etching Cracks (WEC) in bearings. Microstructural characterization of the altered white etching area (WEA) involved conventional electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD), followed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and transmission Kikuchi diffraction (TKD). In addition, automated crystallographic orientation mapping in TEM was performed on lamellae from selected regions of the WEA extracted via focus ion beam milling. The results revealed that the orientation of detectable grains within WEA is similar to that of the vicinal bulk material. WEA consists of small spherical grains (average 30 nm) and the orientation of the grains varied significantly in the deformed zone, suggesting that recrystallization had occurred. The interface between bulk material and the deformed zone is very sharp. Furthermore, needle-like grains, most likely originating from the zone undergoing only modest levels of severe plastic deformation, occurred in WEA. The occurrence of different grain sizes in WEA and incomplete plastic deformation strongly support the hypothesis of WEC formation via severe plastic deformation followed by recrystallization.

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