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The effect of multiple braze furnace exposures has been questioned by many because the rework of brazed parts is a common practice in manufacturing. However, there are process controls that limit the number of exposures for an assembly due to known issues with multiple exposures. A common concern deals with the effect of multiple braze furnace exposures on the structural integrity of the base material of the components. Another concern regards the effect of multiple exposures on the structural integrity of the braze joint itself. This paper details experimental results of a physical study to investigate these questions. The material forms used are seam-welded tube and a thin-wall stamped component, both made from 304L stainless steel. The copper paste used in the study has an industry designation of ANSI/AWS A5.8 - BCu-1a.

Axle primary gearing is normally carburized for high and balanced resistance to contact fatigue, wear, bending fatigue, and impact loading. The focus of this work is on bending fatigue which is a key design consideration of automotive and commercial vehicle axle gearing. Since a carburized component is basically a composite material with steep gradients in carbon content, hardness, tensile strength and microstructure from surface to the middle of the cross section combined with non-linear residual stress, its bending fatigue life prediction is a complex and challenging task. Many factors affect the bending fatigue performance of axle gearing, such as gear design, gear manufacturing, loading history during service, residual stress distribution, steel grade, and heat treatment. In this paper, the general methodology for bending fatigue life prediction of a carburized component is investigated. Carburized steel composites are treated as two homogeneous materials: case and core.

The main objective of this paper is to investigate contact fatigue life models and to evaluate the effect of surface finish on contact fatigue life. The effect of surface finish on contact fatigue life was investigated experimentally using two roller contact fatigue tests. The test samples, i.e. rollers, were carburized, quenched and then tempered. Two different roller surface finishes were evaluated: machined and as heat-treated surface (baseline rough surface) vs. super finished surface (smooth). Because many factors are involved in sliding/rolling contact fatigue, contact fatigue modeling is still in the early development stage. In this work, we will analyze our contact fatigue test results and correlate contact fatigue life with several empirical contact fatigue models, such as the lambda ratio, a new surface texture parameter, and a normalized pitting model which includes Hertzian Stress, sliding, surface roughness and oil film thickness.

Locati method is suitable in preliminary fatigue tests and production quality control. It is efficient since it uses just one test sample. The method requires that the slope of the S-N curve be known a priori, however. In this paper, a modified Locati method is presented that virtually eliminated this requirement. The method produces a point on the S-N plane that is independent of the slope of the S-N curve. The test design strategy to control the fatigue life of such a point is provided. The presented method has been successfully applied to preliminary fatigue tests of several welded components of ground vehicles.

A new wheel end concept was designed and developed to allow sport utility vehicles (SUV) and light trucks the possibility of achieving a negative scrub radius. This paper will compare a production vehicle with a scrub radius of 54.8 mm with the same vehicle modified with several alternate scrub radii. The vehicle changes are completed in a way that still packages the brake components and meets the component durability needs of a light truck wheel end load cycle. Quantitative vehicle computer analysis and actual instrumented vehicle performance data will be compared and correlated to analyze the effects of scrub radius.

Fatigue testing of components is used to validate new product designs as well as changes made to existing designs. On new designs it is common to initially test parts at the design stage (design verification or DV) and then again at the production stage (production verification or PV) to make sure the performance has not changed. On changes to existing designs typically the life of the new part (B) is compared to that of the old part (A). When comparing the fatigue life Weibull analysis is normally used to evaluate the data. The expectation is that the B10 or B50 life of the new part or PV parts should be equal to or better than that of the old parts or the DV parts. However, fatigue testing has a great deal of inherent variability in the resulting life. In this paper the variability of numerous carburized and induction hardened components is examined.

This paper discusses the virtual development process used to support design of a high-tonnage hydroform press. It also discusses the optimized design for structural integrity while achieving low target cost. Other considerations included optimization of setup issues such as press fabrication and assembly. Due to tightly constrained development time, a diverse range of CAE methodologies were used to refine and validate the design. Detailed linear and nonlinear finite element models were developed to provide the required accuracy in the critical regions of the press structure. From these detailed models simplified analytical tools were developed to calculate the key press parameters such as alternating stress and predicted fatigue life. Finite element models were validated with physical strain gage measurements from an array of strain gages installed on the production presses.