Effect of case depth on fatigue performance of AISI 8620 carburized steel

Carburizing treatments are of prime importance to developing fatigue and we ar characteristics of steels. It is also well known that the relative case depth, which considers the size of components as well as the depth of carbu rized case is one of the most important parameters determining fatigue perf ormance. In this study, the effect of relative case depth on fatigue perfor mance of AISI 8620 steel has been investigated by conducting a series of ro tary bending fatigue tests on 10 mm diameter specimens having carburized ca se depths between 0.73 and 1.10 mm. An attempt was made to construct empiri cal relationships between the parameters defining relative case depth and f atigue strength of the steel based on failure at 10(6) cycles, and it was c oncluded that a power model could be used to represent the relationship bet ween case profile and fatigue performance of carburized specimens within th e testing limits of the study. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights re served.