Fatigue strength tests of layered steel

Abstract

The work deals with original measurement of fatigue properties of formed layered steel material – damask steel. This is a material that exhibits a fine micro-structure as well as a regular composition of many material layers with complementary properties. The article experimentally verifies high-cycle fatigue properties of layered steel and evaluates them from the point of view of fatigue tests of conventional steel materials and a parallel application of a non-destructive – acoustic emission – testing. Finally, it discusses the influence of production on fatigue strength and the possibilities of using multi-layered steel materials in technological practice. A serious result of this pilot experiment is the fact documented no only by the fractographic observation, but mainly by the AE records that the fatigue service life of this material is high if it its not stressed by tension approximating the yield point Re. However, such stress is not common in practical use of tools made of damask steel and thus under common bending stress an exceptionally long service life of tools made of this type of material is demonstrable. The fact that damask steel behaves like a homogeneous material is mainly confirmed by the records of the AE signal at lower values of stress σa. When stressed by higher amplitudes of tension σa damask responds in AE records similarly to a laminate material that is stressed by bending.

Keywords

• damask steel
• fatigue tests
• crack propagation
• non-destructive testing
• acoustic emission