Investigation on brittle fracture mechanism of a grade E cast steel knuckle

A paper published on « Case Studies in Ingineering Failure Analysis », on april 2014.

This paper investigated the brittle fracture mechanism of a grade E cast steel knuckle that is one of the key components of the coupler for railway wagon. The fracture morphology mainly shows the characteristic of cleavage, quasi-cleavage fracture as well as a little ductile fracture, so the failure of the knuckle can be attributed to brittle fracture distinctly. Moreover, a welding repair area with high hardness is also found in the fracture region, which might initiate micro-cracks on the surface of the knuckle. As a result, it can be inferred that under an impact load that did not exceed material fracture limit, the micro-cracks initiated from weld repair zone propagated rapidly into the inner matrix by continuously fracturing the dendrites along shrinkage porosity regions until the knuckle failed instantly.

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Crankshaft failure analysis

A new interesting paper in  » Engineering Failure Analysis » published on ScienceDirect.com.

A case study of a crankshaft catastrophic failure of a motor vehicle and its failure analysis is presented. The crankshaft suffered a mechanical seizure on the crankpin no. 2 after 3 years in service. It was repaired and after 30,000 km the vehicle had a damage again, with a catastrophic failure on the same crankpin.

More at : Crankshaft failure analysis of a motor vehicle.

Brittle fracture of a grade E cast steel knuckle

This paper was published in « Case Studies in Engineering Failure Analysis » on April 2014. It investigated the brittle fracture mechanism of a grade E cast steel knuckle that is one of the key components of the coupler for railway wagon.

As a result, it can be inferred that under an impact load that did not exceed material fracture limit, the micro-cracks initiated from weld repair zone propagated rapidly into the inner matrix by continuously fracturing the dendrites along shrinkage porosity regions until the knuckle failed instantly.

Read more.

Failure of a Motor Vessel’s Crankshaft 1968

An interesting paper published in  « Engineering Failure Analysis » :

In July 1968 the Swedish motor vessel “MV Stureholm” traveled from Sweden across the North Atlantic with destination to the American gulf harbours.  About 100 nautical miles north of the peninsula Yucatan the 9,000 HP diesel engine failed as a consequence of fatigue failure of the crankshaft. The ship was disabled and had to be towed to Veracruz, Mexico. The Swedish shipowning company decided to perform a temporary repair in Veracruz by welding the fatigue crack. Back in Sweden the damaged but repaired crankshaft was dismounted from the engine and inspected by surveyors. The result was that a fatigue crack had initiated from a subsurface solidification (hot) crack.

This paper brings out the detail of investigation carried out. Read more at : Failure of a Motor Vessel’s Crankshaft 1968.