Carbon steel axle forgings were rejected due to internal cracks observed during final machining. To determine the cause of the cracks, the preforms of the forging were analyzed in detail at each stage of the forging. The analysis revealed a large central burst in the intermediate stage of the forging preform, which subsequently increased in the final stage. A high upset strain during forging, especially in the final stage, accentuated the center burst by high lateral flow of the metal. It was concluded that the center burst of the axle forging resulted from a high concentration of nonmetallic inclusions...