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Failure Analysis of Ductile Iron Differential Housing Spline in 4WD Passenger Car

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Abstract

Splines are widely used in mechanical drive systems to transfer rotational motion from a shaft to the gear or from a gear to the shaft. The failure investigation was performed on the differential housing of three different four-wheel-drive car models with gasoline engines. Compilation of failure reports was performed by a first author as a professional car expert from the famous car repair shop in Mashhad city for 6 years. Failure zones appeared on the housing splines after an average operation of 60,000 km. Experiments were performed on two matched members, including the failed ductile cast iron housing and undamaged transfer case shaft of tempered martensite steel. For this purpose, a series of experiments including fractography using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) only for housing and chemical composition, mechanical properties, microstructure, and hardness were performed for both matched members, and finally, stress analysis was performed for two matched members numerically. The results showed that the strength and hardness of the housing material were lower than that of the shaft. Also, striations associated with the teeth flank and face surfaces of the housing using SEM imaging showed that failure was of fatigue type on housing spline teeth.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to appreciate the sincere cooperation of Mr. M. Esfidani (Materials Mechanical Properties Lab, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad) and Mr. D. Khademi (Electron Microscopy Research Core, FUM Central Lab).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Mechanical Engineering Department, Mashhad Branch, Islamic Azad University, Mashhad, Iran

    Mohammad Rahim Torshizian & Morteza Ghonchegi

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Montazeri, Khorasan Razavi Branch, Technical and Vocational University (TVU), Mashhad, Iran

    Karim Aliakbari

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Appendices

Appendix A: Reviews on Failure Analysis

According to the first group of the literature reviewing the investigation of failure analysis, Weibring et al.27 introduced a fatigue simulation for the mechanisms of microcracks and microcavity in gear teeth. Medina and Olver28 studied the load distribution and the effect of pitch error on misaligned splines. Cuffaro et al.29 investigated surface roughness parameters for the detection of fretting damage in spline couplings made of 42CrMo4 steel. The results showed that the roughness values vary with the working conditions including the transmitted torque and the misalignment angle. Brown30 reported that the abrasive of spline couplings on aircraft accessory drives is mainly due to spline misalignment and poor lubrication conditions. These experimental studies have played an important role in determining and documenting failure modes in spline interfaces. However, their contributions in understanding the failure mechanisms without knowing the distribution of loads along the spline of contact surfaces were limited. Yu et al.31 performed failure analysis on the splined-shaft used in the truck diesel engine. The transverse fractures happened in the root fillet between the tooth and the cylinder portions. Fractographic results of the fracture surfaces showed that the intergranular cracks at a depth of about 20 microns contain oxide compounds of Cr, Mn, Si, and dimples. The association of intercellular oxidation precracks with microstructural embrittlement caused the premature failure of the splined shaft. Ku and Valtierra32 studied the wear of misaligned splines. Their results showed that the misalignments phenomenon had a significant effect on the wear of splines. Yu and Xu33 investigated the failure of a diesel engine gear train consisting of a drive crankshaft gear and a driven camshaft gear made of nitrated 42CrMo4 steel used in a truck. In another study, Yu and Xu34 conducted the failure examination on idler gear of diesel engine gearbox used in a truck, which is made from 20CrMnTi steel. The crack initiation region is located in the root fillet zone of the weld zone of the splined inner circle. The macrofracture surfaces exhibited brittle cracking features, and the microfracture indicated intergranular cracking characteristics. Detailed metallurgical investigations were performed on the carburized layer and the core region, and the causes of failure were evaluated. Das et al.35 examined a failure analysis on a spline of an air compressor pinion in an emergency diesel generator. The results showed that fatigue failure was initiated by fatigue crack from the fillet zone of one of the pinion teeth. The misalignment also resulted in severe abrasion and excessive heat generation at the mating surface. Incorrect heat treatment, misalignment, non-uniform distribution of sulfide impurities, and sharp corners have all affected the failure of the pinion. Tatur and Vygonnyi36 presented an analytical model to estimate the torsional load distribution along the axial direction of the spline teeth. Hong et al.18 applied a combined finite element and surface integral contact analysis model to investigate the distribution of different radial and torsional loads on the interfaces of a spur gear–shaft and helical gear–shaft. Adey et al.37 developed a model with a boundary element method for spline analysis. This model was capable of analyzing combined torsional and axial loading in the existence of specific manufacturing errors. Volfson38 suggested a rough estimation of the contact force distribution along the axial direction of splines under pure torsion or pure bending loading conditions. Shah and Tartaglia39 estimated total fatigue and transition life in brake disk rotor hub using strain-controlled fatigue data generated for various cast materials. The material data generated from recent testing, service loads, and boundary conditions from the potential failure modes are entered into a finite element analysis (FEA) to predict the stress amplitudes using the same geometry that is employed for predicting the fatigue life.

Appendix B: Reviews on the Behavior of Cast Irons

According to the second group of literature reviews on the behavior of cast irons, Gonzaga40 investigated the effect of ferrite and pearlite content on the mechanical properties of three ductile cast irons with different microstructures. The results showed that the yield and tensile strength increase with increasing pearlite content. Cocco and Iacoviello41 examined the impact of microstructure on the damaged micromechanisms of overloaded fatigue cracks. The results showed that increasing the level of damage had a significant effect on the ductility of ferritic and ferritic–pearlitic cast irons, whereas pearlitic ductile cast iron had no remarkable transition from fatigue appearance to overload failure. In another study, Iacoviello and Cocco42 examined the effect of graphite elements on fatigue crack propagation in ferritic ductile cast iron, in addition to no effect on mechanical properties. Ferro et al.43 experimentally investigated the high-cycle fatigue properties of EN-GJS-400 ductile cast iron containing chunky graphite. They measured important microstructural parameters such as nodule count and nodularity rating. The results showed that the average content of 40% of chunky graphite in microstructure considering the total content of graphite had no significant effect on fatigue strength of the analyzed cast iron. Baer44 reviewed the impact of chunky graphite on strength, ductility, fatigue limit, fatigue crack growth rate as well as fracture toughness of ferritic spheroidal graphite cast iron (SGI) materials based on experimental data. Gundlach et al.45 reviewed the roles of Mn and S on the strength of gray iron. Investigations showed that tensile strength first increased with sulfur, reaching a maximum strength level and then decreased with further increases in sulfur. Maximum strength coincided with the solubility limit of MnS inclusions. Jamalkhani Khameneh and Azadi46 experimentally evaluated high-cycle failure and bending fatigue behaviors of the EN-GJS700-2 ductile cast iron that are widely used for crankshafts. Failure analysis exhibited various observations including striation marks, debonding of nodular graphites from the ferritic–pearlitic matrix, microcracks and the secondary crack, cleavage marks, scratching marks, and inclusions. Cavallini et al.47 showed the microstructure effect on the fatigue crack propagation resistance of ductile cast iron under various stress ratios. Fras and Lopez48 analyzed the most important quality parameters in cast iron, namely the eutectic cells or nodule count based on theoretical fundamentals of cast iron solidification. Findings showed that such factors are intrinsically related to the chill tendency, preshrinkage expansion, shrinkage porosity, shrinkage depression, and graphite type. Also, they showed that the resultant mechanical properties of cast iron are strongly influenced by the foundry practice. The first time, Thomser et al.49 simulated local microstructure and resulting static mechanical properties as a function of alloy composition, applied metallurgy, local solidification, and cooling conditions. This innovative approach leads to improvements in lifetime predictions. Their results showed that the consideration of local fatigue strength based on this innovative approach leads as well to an increasing number of cycles to failure as to a correct prediction of the location of crack initiation. Svensson and Sjögren50 presented modeling and simulation of mechanical properties related to the graphite morphology and matrix constituents, using strength and strain-hardening coefficients. Shah and Tartaglia51 reviewed the contents and format of the strain life fatigue database for cast irons. Investigations showed that monotonic strength always decreased with increasing elongation and ferrite content with the same modulus and Poisson’s ratio for all the conditions. Also, the higher strength grades and conditions exhibited greater high-cycle fatigue resistance and decreased low-cycle fatigue resistance. Besides, heat treatments had a mixed effect on monotonic properties. In other researches, Tartaglia et al.52 investigated ways to achieve a higher combination of strength and ductility, by characterizing the relationships between the graphite and metal matrix, alloy content, and tensile properties in ductile iron. The characterization utilized standard physical metallurgical tools including tensile properties, optical microscopy, and automated image analysis to measure ferrite content, grain size, nodule count, nodule size, and nodularity.

Appendix C: Estimation of Load Cycles to Housing Failure

  1. 1.

    Operation reports

    • Distance average to failure: 60,000 km

    • Distance minimum and maximum to failure: 40,000–100,000 km

  2. 2.

    Urban driving conditions in Iran and strain cycles

    1. (a)

      Assumptions

      • weekly commuting to work (working days of the week): 48 weeks with 50 km round trip + 10% errands (55 km daily)

      • weekend errands and recreational destinations (weekend holidays): 48 weeks with 35 km total daily

      • vacation and trips: 4 weeks with 800 km one way typically and 3 per year

    2. (b)

      Calculation details of annual kilometers driven

      • daily distance = 55 km × 5 days × 48 weeks = 13,200 km

      • weekends = 35 km × 2 days × 48 weeks = 3360 km

      • vacations and trips distance = 800 km × 3 per year = 2400 km

        Annual distance per year = 18,960 km

      • Years to reach average km’s to failure: 60,000 km average; 3 years

  3. 3.

    Calculation details of cycle strain failure

    1. (a)

      Assumptions

      • strain cycles: acceleration from stop to 50 km/h; deceleration prior to braking; R ratio: 0.65 (deceleration torque/acceleration torque)

    2. (b)

      Calculation details of accelerations and decelerations

      • weekly commuting to work: [(55 km/week × 5 days × 48 weeks)/3.2 km/stop] = 4125 A’s and D’s

      • weekend driving: [(35 km/week × 2 days × 48 weeks)/4 km/stop] = 840 A’s and D’s

      • vacation/trips: (2400 km total)/80 km/stop = 30 A’s and D’s

      • accelerations and decelerations per year = 4995 A’s and D’s/year

      • cycles per 3 years (60,000 km average) = 14,985 cycles

      • strain reversals (N × 2) = 14,985 × 2 = 29,970 reversals

Due to high-cycle strain life for an automotive component like this usually is at least 1,000,000 cycles, therefore the failure at about 30,000 cycles would be low cycle strain failure.

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Torshizian, M.R., Aliakbari, K. & Ghonchegi, M. Failure Analysis of Ductile Iron Differential Housing Spline in 4WD Passenger Car. Inter Metalcast 15, 587–601 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40962-020-00487-2

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