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This paper discusses the effects of changes in specimen geometry, stress gradient, and residual stresses on fully-reversed constant amplitude uniaxial fatigue behavior of a medium carbon steel. Axial fatigue tests were performed on both flat and round specimens, while four-point rotating bending tests were performed only on round specimens. All the tests were performed using shot peened and unpeened flat and round samples, to investigate the effects of compressive residual stresses on fatigue behavior. The specimens in the rotating bending tests experienced longer life for a given stress amplitude than in the axial test. Shot-peening was found to be beneficial in the long life region, while in short life tests the shot-peened samples experienced a shorter life than the unpeened samples under both axial and bending test conditions.

Fatigue fractures are the most common type of mechanical failures of components and structures. It is widely recognized that surface finish has a significant effect on fatigue behavior. Forgings can be accompanied by significant surface roughness and decarburization. The correction factors used in many mechanical design textbooks to correct for the as-forged surface condition are typically based on data published in the 1940's. It has been found by several investigators that the existing data for as-forged surface condition is too conservative. Such conservative values often result in over-engineered designs of many forged parts, leading not only to increased cost, but also inefficiencies associated with increased weight, such as increased fuel consumption in the automotive industry. In addition, this can reduce forging competitiveness as a manufacturing process in terms of cost and performance prediction in the early design stage, compared to alternative manufacturing processes.