A narrow bone plate made of type 316 stainless steel and used to stabilize an open midshaft femur fracture failed. A crack at a plate hole next to the fracture site had been revealed by a radiograph taken 13 weeks after the operation. The plate was revealed to be slightly bent in the horizontal plane, and the fracture gap was considerably open. The screws and plates supplied by different manufacturers were revealed to be different with respect to microcleanliness (primary inclusion content) of the materials and only one of them was found to be according to specifications. The local crack formation was influenced by the presence of larger inclusions. The screw failed was revealed to have failed through a fatigue mechanism by the presence of striations in the scanning electron micrograph. The crack in the plate was revealed to have originated at the upper, outer corner of the plate by the beach marks which indicated the action of asymmetric bending and rotational forces.

A hook, which was marked for a safe working load of 2 tons, failed while lifting a load of approximately 35 cwts. Fracture took place at the junction of the shank with the hook portion, at which no fillet radius existed. Except for an annular region round the periphery, which was of a smooth texture, the fracture was brightly crystalline indicative of a brittle failure. Microscopic examination showed the material was a low-carbon steel in the normalized condition; no abnormal features were observed. The basic cause of failure was the presence of a fatigue crack at the change of section where the shank joined the hook portion. To minimize the possibility of fatigue cracking, it was recommended that a generous radius be provided at the change of section.

The secondary cooling water system pressure boundary of Savannah River Site reactors includes expansion joints utilizing a thin-wall bellows. While successfully used for over thirty years, an occasional replacement has been required because of the development of small, circumferential fatigue cracks in a bellows convolute. One such crack was recently shown to have initiated from a weld heat-affected zone liquation microcrack. The crack, initially open to the outer surface of the rolled and seam welded cylindrical bellows section, was closed when cold forming of the convolutes placed the outer surface in residual compression. However, the bellows was placed in tension when installed, and the tensile stresses reopened the microcrack. This five to eight grain diameter microcrack was extended by ductile fatigue processes. Initial extension was by relatively rapid propagation through the large-grained weld metal, followed by slower extension through the fine-grained base metal. A significant through-wall crack was not developed until the crack extended into the base metal on both sides of the weld. Leakage of cooling water was subsequently detected and the bellows removed and a replacement installed.

Several AISI type 321 stainless steel welded oil tank assemblies used on helicopter engine systems began to leak in service. One failure, a fracture on the aft side of a spot weld, was submitted for analysis. SEM fractography examination revealed fatigue failure. The failure initiated at an overload fracture near the root of the weld and was followed by mode III fatigue crack propagation (tearing) around the periphery of the weld. The initial overload fracture was caused by a high external load, which produced a concentrated stress and fracture at the weld root. The subsequent fatigue fracture was caused by engine vibrations during operation of the aircraft. Fracture characteristics indicated that the fatigue would not have occurred if the initial damage had not taken place.

A fluorescent liquid-penetrant inspection of an experimental stator vane of a first-stage axial compressor revealed the presence of a longitudinal crack over 50 mm (2 in.) long at the edge of a resistance seam weld. The vane was made of titanium alloy Ti-6Al-4V (AMS 4911). The crack was opened by fracturing the vane. The crack surface displayed fatigue beach marks emanating from the seam-weld interface. Both the leading-edge and trailing-edge seam welds exhibited weld-metal expulsions up to 3.6 mm (0.14 in.) in length. Metallographic examination confirmed that metal expulsion from the resistance welds was generally present. The stator vane failed by a fatigue crack that initiated at internal surface discontinuities caused by metal expulsion from the resistance seam weld used in fabricating the vane. Expulsion of metal from seam welds should be eliminated by a slight reduction in welding current to reduce the temperature, by an increase in the electrode force, or both.

Three examples of corrosion-fatigue cracking from the toes of substantial fillet welds applied to seal-leaking riveted seams in steam accumulators are described. In the first case, this practice resulted in a disastrous explosion; in the second, which involved two identical vessels at the same location, cracking in course of development was discovered during internal inspection. Microscope examination of several specimens cut to intersect a crack showed it to be typical of corrosion-fatigue; it was in the form of a broad fissure, contained oxide deposits, and the termination was blunt-ended. The two cases not only serve to illustrate the danger of applying fillet welds to seal the lap edges of riveted seams, but point to the inadvisability of employing riveted construction for vessels intended for service under conditions involving frequent pressure and thermal fluctuations, as it is extremely difficult to maintain the tightness of riveted seams under these conditions. Such vessels are now almost exclusively of all-welded construction

Several compressor diaphragms from five gas turbines cracked after a short time in service. The vanes were constructed of type 403 stainless steel, and welding was performed using type 309L austenitic stainless steel filler metal. The fractures originated in the weld heat-affected zones of inner and outer shrouds. A complete metallurgical analysis was conducted to determine the cause of failure. It was concluded that the diaphragms had failed by fatigue. Analysis suggests that the welds contained high residual stresses and had not been properly stress relieved. Improper welding techniques may have also contributed to the failures. Use of proper welding techniques, including appropriate prewelding and postwelding heat treatments, was recommended.

Fractures and a crack occurred in a length of excavator boom rope. Failure took place at regions where local corrosion was evident. Microscopic examination of longitudinal sections disclosed that the majority of the cracks were broad, these being typical of corrosion-fatigue fissures. In addition, cracking took the form more typical of a fatigue crack and appeared to have originated at a stress-raiser introduced by a corrosion pit on the surface of the wire. The tendency for corrosion-fatigue cracking or the formation of pits from which fatigue cracks can develop can he reduced, if not prevented, in wire ropes by regular attention to lubrication.

Two diesel engine crankshafts of similar dimensions, the journal diam being approximately 7 in., failed due to cracking originating in the fillet at the junction between the crankpin and the web nearest to the flywheel. The cracks were discovered before rupture occurred. Several small cracks originated in the fillet, ran together and developed as two main crack fronts that ultimately merged into one, a typical example of a fatigue failure. Electromagnetic crack detection revealed the presence of a number of discontinuities which were located at a position that would correspond to the vertical axis of the original ingot. The crankshaft had not been stress-relieved after a welding operation had been carried out. The only satisfactory course to follow when dealing with a highly stressed part in which defects of the type in question are revealed during machining is to scrap the forging.

Two examples concerning fabricated mild steel rotor spiders which failed due to lack of torsional rigidity, probably supplemented by the presence of high internal stress, are described. The machine concerned in the first case was a 3,000 hp three-phase slip-ring motor. In the second case the machine was a 200 kW alternator, direct-driven by a diesel engine running at 750 rpm. Both the foregoing failures reveal the same basic weakness, i.e., insufficient rigidity when subjected to variations or reversals of torque. In the first case, the bars welded to the arms were inadequately supported in a lateral direction, so that excessive stresses of a fluctuating nature were set up in the welds as a result of the frequent load changes that arose in service. This weakness was eliminated when designing the replacement spider. In the second example, failure also arose as a result of deficient torsional rigidity with the consequent development of excessive stresses in the welds at the junctions of the bars with the sleeve, the torque being of a fluctuating character due to the impulses imparted by the engine.

A type 321 stainless steel bellows expansion joint on a 17-cm (6 in.) OD inlet line (347 stainless) in a gas-turbine test facility cracked during operation. The line carried high-purity nitrogen gas at 1034 kPa (150 psi) with a flow rate of 5.4 to 8.2 kg/s (12 to 18 lb/s). Cracking occurred in welded joints and in unwelded portions of the bellows. The bellows were made by forming the convolution halves from stainless steel sheet, then welding the convolutions together. Evidence from visual examination, liquid penetrant inspection chemical analysis, hardness tests, and metallographic examination of sections etched with Vilella's reagent supports the conclusions that failure of the bellows occurred by intergranular fatigue cracking. Secondary degrading effects on the piping existed as well. Recommendations included the acceptability of Type 321 stainless steel (provided open-cycle testing does not result in surface oxidation and crevices) Although type 347 stainless steel would be better, and Inconel 600 would be an even better choice. Welds would also need modified processing for reheating and annealing. Prevention of oil leakage into the system would minimize carburization of the piping and bellows.

The 14-cm diam main hoist shaft of a mobile shovel was found to have multiple crack indications when ultrasonically inspected in the field. A crack around the entire circumference at the change in section was revealed by magnetic-particle inspection of the shaft. The crack was found to coincide with the junction of the fillet and the smaller diam at this change in section. A slight step in the continuity of the fillet and some machining marks were noted at this junction. A fine crack extending 2.5 mm from the surface and originating at the machining marks was revealed by microscopic examination. The shaft was identified by chemical analysis to be 1040 steel (hardness 170 HRB) which was concluded to have insufficient fatigue strength. The step at the base of the fillet was revealed as the point of initiation of the fatigue crack. Shaft material was changed to 4140 steel oil-quenched and tempered to a hardness of 302 to 352 HRB and all machining discontinuities were removed.

A system of carbon steel headers, handling superheated water of 188 deg C (370 deg F) at 2 MPa (300 psi) for automobile-tire curing presses, developed a number of leaks within about four months after two to three years of leak-free service. All the leaks were in shielded metal arc butt welds joining 200 mm (8 in.) diam 90 deg elbows and pipe to 200 mm (8 in.) diam welding-neck flanges. A flange-elbow-flange assembly and a flange-pipe assembly that had leaked were removed for examination. Investigation (visual inspection, hardness testing, chemical analysis, magnetic-particle testing, radiographic inspection, and 2% nital etched 1.7x views) showed varying IDs on the assemblies and supported the conclusions that the failures of the butt welds were the result of fatigue cracks caused by cyclic thermal stresses that initiated at stress-concentrating notches at the toes of the interior fillet welds on the surfaces of the flanges. Recommendations included using ultrasonic testing to identify the appropriate joints and then replacing them. Special attention to accuracy of fit-up in the replacement joints was also recommended to achieve smooth, notch-free contours on the interior surfaces.

A hollow, splined alloy steel aircraft shaft (machined from an AMS 6415 steel forging – approximately the same composition as 4340 steel – then quenched and tempered to a hardness of 44.5 to 49 HRC) cracked in service after more than 10,000 h of flight time. The inner surface of the hollow shaft was exposed to hydraulic oil at temperatures of 0 to 80 deg C (30 to 180 deg F). Analysis (visual inspection, 15-30x low magnification examination, 4x light fractograph, chemical analysis, hardness testing) supported the conclusions that the shaft cracked in a region subjected to severe static radial, cyclic torsional, and cyclic bending loads. Cracking originated at corrosion pits on the smoothly finished surface and propagated as multiple small corrosion-fatigue cracks from separate nuclei. The originally noncorrosive environment (hydraulic oil) became corrosive in service because of the introduction of water into the oil. Recommendations included taking additional precautions in operation and maintenance to prevent the use of oil containing any water through filling spouts or air vents. Also, polishing to remove pitting corrosion (but staying within specified dimensional tolerances) was recommended as a standard maintenance procedure for shafts with long service lives.

A failure analysis was conducted to determine the cause of recurring failure of flexible bellows in an exhaust hose assembly. The bellows were made of type 321 stainless steel. Visual examination showed that cracks followed a path along the seam weld in the bellows. Most of the cracks followed a multidirectional/circular pattern, occasionally chipping off the convolutions, an indication of high-resonance fatigue-type cracking. Scanning electron fractography showed fatigue striations throughout the fracture surface. The microstructure consisted of relatively large grains and an abnormal degree of titanium-base stringers. Wall thickness was about 0.15 mm (0.006 in.) underside. It was concluded that the high vane pass frequency excited the natural vibration of the bellows to a higher resonance and cracked the bellows after a relatively short service period. The assembly was redesigned, and no further cracking occurred.

A crankshaft flange from a marine diesel engine illustrated a less-common case of fretting-fatigue cracking. The crankshaft was from a main engine of a sea-going passenger/vehicle ferry. The afterface of the flange was bolted to the flange of a shaft driving the gearbox. Cracks observed were sharp, transgranular, and not associated with any decarburization or other microstructural anomalies in the steel. Cracking of this main engine crankshaft flange was very likely a consequence of fatigue cracking initiated at fretting damage. The cause of the fretting was from loosening of the bolts.

A commercial aircraft wheel half, machined from an aluminum alloy 2014 forging that had been heat treated to the T6 temper, was removed from service because a crack was discovered in the area of the grease-dam radius during a routine inspection. Neither the total number of landings nor the roll mileage was reported, but about 300 days had elapsed between the date of manufacture and the date the wheel was removed from service. The analysis (visual inspection, macrographs, micrographs, electron microprobe) supported the conclusions that the wheel half failed by fatigue. The fatigue crack originated at a material imperfection and progressed in more than one plane because changes in the direction of wheel rotation altered the direction of the applied stresses. Recommendations included rewriting the inspection specifications to require sound forgings.

Corrosion failure occurred in a titanium clad tubesheet because of a corrosive tube-side gas-liquid mixture leaking through fatigue cracks in the seal welds at tube-to-tubesheet joints. The tubesheet was a carbon steel plate clad with titanium on the tube side face. The seal weld cracks were initiated by cyclic stress imposed by exchanger tubes. The gas-liquid mixture passed through cracks under tube-side pressure, resulting in severe corrosion of the steel backing plate. The failure started with the loosening of the expanded tube-to-tubesheet joints. Loose joints allowed the exchanger tubes to impose load on seal welds and the shell side cooling water entered the crevice between the tubesheet and the tubes. The cooling water in the crevice caused galvanic reaction and embrittlement of seal welds. Brittle crack opening and crack propagation in seal welds occurred due to the cyclic stress imposed by the tubes. The cyclic stress arised from the thermal cycling of the heat exchanger. The possible effects of material properties on the failure of the tubesheet are discussed.

The 1040 steel crankshaft in a reciprocating engine cracked within one year of operation. The journals of the main and crankpin bearings were inspected by the magnetic-particle method. Three to six indications of 1.5 to 9.5 mm long discontinuities were observed in at least four of the main-bearing journals. A crack along the fillet, almost entirely through the web, was observed in one of the main-bearing journals. Numerous coarse segregates, identified as sulfide inclusions, were identified by macroetching the surface during metallographic examination of a section taken through the main-bearing journal at the primary crack. Fatigue cracking with low-stress high-cycle characteristics was disclosed during macroscopic examination of the crack surface. Sulfide inclusions, which acted as stress raisers, were found to be present in the region where cracking originated. As a corrective measure, ultrasonic inspection was used in addition to magnetic-particle inspection to detect discontinuities.

A pair of steam generators operating at a pressurized water reactor site were found to be leaking near a closure weld. The generators were the vertical U-tube type, constructed from ASTM A302 grade B steel. The shell material exhibited high hardness values prior to confirmatory heat treatment, indicating high residual stresses in the area of the weld. All cracks were transgranular and were associated with pits on the inside surfaces of the vessels. It was concluded that the cracking was caused by a low-cycle corrosion fatigue phenomenon, with cracks initiating at areas of localized corrosion and propagating by fatigue. The cause of the pitting/cracking was related to the unit's copper species in solution.