Rolling Contact Fatigue Damage from Artificial Defects and Sulphide Inclusions in High Strength Steel

To clarify the effects of artificial defects and sulphide inclusions on rolling contact fatigue (RCF) in high strength steel, crack initiation and propagation behaviours from defects were evaluated by using synchrotron radiation computed laminography. Artificial defects and sulphide inclusions lead to RCF damage “flaking” through the same damage process, but considerably different crack initiation lives. Finite element analyses (FEA) for RCF simulated the different stress states between two kinds of defect. The FEA results suggest the reason for the different crack initiation lives in the RCF test.