CRACK REASON ANALYSIS OF DAMAGED CARBONITRIDED PART.docVIP

29 Materials Engineering, Vol. 17, 2010, No. 1 CRACK REASON ANALYSIS OF DAMAGED CARBONITRIDED PART Karin Kocúrová, Marián Hazlinger Received 23 February 2010; accepted in revised form 30 March 2010 rd th Abstract The article deals with the analysis of a damaged part, which was designed for use in a mechanical clutch of a car. The crack in the part was found during the production inspection. The aim of metallographic and fractography analyses of the fracture surfaces was to discover the reasons for the crack. The reason for creating the crack was the formation of smaller cracks in the production during pressing process of the semiproduct. These cracks even grew after the following thermochemical treatment. The fracture was initiated during the straightening process of quenched part. Keywords: Mechanical clutch, thermochemical treatment, carbonitriding, fractography, cracks, fracture, microstructure. 1. Introduction The damage of the part (Fig. 1) was detected The semiproduct for the production of this part was a rolled steel strip with a thickness arround 2 mm from low carbon steel C10. The geometrical shape of the part was made by cold-pressing process during the continuous in production inspection. This part was designed for the mechanical clutch of a car. This part ensures radial suspension of the clutch disc through helical springs (smoother grip of the clutch, mainly during initial acceleration of a car) and transmissions torque from engine to the gear box. Investigated part was cracked on three locations. More detailed views are shown in Fig. 2 and Fig. 3. The aim of metallografic analysis was to determine the reason of the damage. after unwinding and straightening of the plate. The following thermochemica