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Failure Investigation on the Cracked Diesel Engine Ring Gears

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Abstract

Many of the teeth on two ring gears used in a truck fractured in service. The fractographic investigation and metallurgical analysis of the fractured teeth showed that the cracks initiated at the root on the side of the loaded face. The fractured teeth surfaces reveal similar macrofractographic and microfractographic features typical of cleavage and quasi-cleavage and reflective of a low toughness in the material. The microstructure of the core of failed ring gears showed a coarse grain size and a continuous network of Widmannstätten ferrite. The defective microstructure was retained in the hardened layer of the groove, the root fillet, and half tooth height regions, decreasing the strength and the impact toughness of the ring gears and promoting the brittle fracture. Unsuitable forging and normalizing processes are responsible for the defective microstructure.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Electromechanics and Material Engineering College, Dalian Maritime University, Dalian, 116026, People’s Republic of China

    Xiao-lei Xu & Zhi-wei Yu

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  1. Xiao-lei Xu
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  2. Zhi-wei Yu
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Correspondence to Xiao-lei Xu.

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Xu, Xl., Yu, Zw. Failure Investigation on the Cracked Diesel Engine Ring Gears. J Fail. Anal. and Preven. 9, 335–341 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11668-009-9252-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11668-009-9252-z

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