Influence of hydrogen content and microstructure on the fatigue behaviour of steel SAE 52100 in the VHCF regime

The fatigue life of the bearing steel 52100 (100Cr6) in bainite and martensite conditions was investigated up to 2 × 109 cycles. The tests were performed under cycling tension (R = 0.1) and tension–compression (R = −1) on a piezo-electric ultrasonic testing equipment. The specimens are designed with a cylindrical part in the highly stressed centre. Due to grinding, compressive residual stresses are found at the surface, hence crack initiation solely occurs subsurface. Prior testing half of the specimens was charged with hydrogen. The hydrogen content varies from 0.6 as initial condition to 3 ppm after charging. The increased hydrogen content decreased the endurance limit to nearly half of the value of uncharged conditions and crack initiation changed: Conditions with low hydrogen content failed from chromium carbides, titanium nitrides or slag agglomerations. Conditions with 3 ppm hydrogen failed from slag agglomerations, often in combination with aluminium magnesium oxides, and manganese sulphides. Next to the inclusions a fine granular area (FGA) could be observed in some cases, and nearly all fractured surfaces showed a fisheye surrounded by an Optically Bright Zone (OBZ) with the crack initiating inclusion in its centre. Furthermore, selected specimens where analysed using secondary ion mass spectroscopy in a time of flight setup (ToF-SIMS) to ascertain the local hydrogen content. From the results it is assumed that hydrogen accumulates in the cavity at inclusions or bonds to the inclusion if it contains silicon.