R&D CDFD Engineering

Bharat Forge Ltd. Pune, India

Bending fatigue life evaluation of

Crankshaft with induction hardening effect
via FEMFAT boundary layers
Presentation by

Mr. Sumedh Kousadikar

Mr. Santosh Kumar
Mr. Atul Patil
January 22 , 2013

Pune, India
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Presentation Sequence
Bharat
Kalyani
Group
& Bharat Forge Overview
Forge
Overview

Introduction
Objective & Methodology
Approach 1: Introducing hardness effect via Boundary layer
Approach 2: Hardness effect via Boundary layer & Forge factor
Correlation between FEMFAT & physical test results
Conclusion & Future Work

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Global Footprint
5
3
4

1
6

2
BFL

CDP BHARAT FORGE

Ennepetal, Germany

BHARAT FORGE DAUN

Daun, Germany

BF ALUMINIUMTECHNIK
Dresden, Germany

BF AMERICA
Lansing

BHARAT FORGE KILSTA,

Sweden

FAW BF (Changchun) Co. Ltd.

Changchun, China

CAPACITY
60,000 tons

Strong Foray in the largest

auto market USA

Strong customer
relationship

Dual Shore manufacturing

Manpower: 83 People

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CAPACITY
200,000 Tons

CAPACITY
365,000 Tons

CAPACITY
135,000 Tons

Production base close to the

customer

Worlds largest single

location forging facility

JV with FAW in China with

52% stake

Proximity to large marquee

Customers

Foothold into fastest

growing market

Dual Shore manufacturing

Technologically advanced,
flexible forging & machining
facility

Dual Shore Manufacturing

Manpower: 1060 People

Proximity to fast growing

Auto markets of China &
India

Dual Shore manufacturing

Manpower: 1500 People

Manpower: 4700 People

Capacity over 760,000 Tons per annum

Crankshaft machining capacity of 1,200,000 Nos.
Capacity to machine 500,000 FAB & 750,000 steering knuckles
Skilled workforce of 7000 Worldwide.
3

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GLOBAL PRESENCE - Automotive

GLOBAL & DOMESTIC CLIENTS

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Global & Domestic Non Automotive

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New Verticals Greater Focus Indias Growth

Non - Auto Business

Transportation

Energy

Oil & Gas

Aerospace

Power

Thermal

Hydro

Wind

Railways

Construction & Mining

Metal & Mining

Construction

General
Engineering

Nuclear
Marine

Supporting global core infrastructure sectors

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Introduction
Crankshaft manufacturing process involves forging, heat treatment, machining, grinding,
shot blasting & induction hardening.

Forging

Machining

Induction hardening

Fatigue testing
& Validation

Fatigue testing of crankshaft is a complex engineering process, which requires lot of

theoretical calculations, practical work, time & cost.
Crankshaft fatigue life can be improved by optimizing design & process parameters. But
its physical test validation needs lot of testing time & other expenses. So to reduce these
complexities, it is important to virtually simulate the crankshaft fatigue testing process &
predict the fatigue life.

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Objective & Methodology

Bending fatigue life evaluation of crankshaft with induction hardening effect via FEMFAT
boundary layers.
Crankshaft bending fatigue life correlation between FEMFAT & physical test results.
Methodology:
Import ANSYS stress
results into FEMFAT &
apply different IH
process parameter effect
via boundary layers

Predict fatigue life

& validate results

Conduct FE analysis

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Input data for analysis

Following input parameters are taken for bending fatigue life evaluation of five different
capacity crankshafts.
Crankshafts Input data for FEMFAT Analysis
S.N.

Crankshaft

Material

Pin Dia() mm

UTS (MPa)

YS (Mpa)

Surface Hardness
(HRc)

Surface finish
(Ra)

Micro alloyed

70

780-930

450

52

0.25

Micro alloyed

90

750-900

450

53

0.25

Q&T

94

930-1080

760

50

0.25

Micro alloyed

95

850-1000

550

55

0.25

Micro alloyed

100

850-1000

550

56

0.25

The load spectra applied is actual (B50) mean fatigue strength of crankshaft.

All analysis are performed on load ratio (R=-1) fully reverse condition.
Other parameters like technological size influence, forge factor, are activated based on pin
diameter of crankshaft.
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Fatigue life analysis using FEMFAT

Following parameters are considered for
analysis,

Material: Micro alloyed steel.

Applied stress level 875 MPa
UTS 850 MPa
Pin Diameter: 94 mm
Technological size influence ON
Forge Factor ON
Surface Roughness 0.2
Stress ratio R=-1
B50 fatigue life

FEMFAT fatigue
life

Expected
fatigue life

% of variation

5.82E+03

10E+06

99.94%

Fatigue life Requirement:

10Million no. of cycles for 875 MPa
Without Induction hardening effect

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Fatigue life analysis using FEMFAT

Similarly fatigue life evaluated for other sizes of crankshafts as shown below.
BENDING FATIGUE TEST CORRELATION
Sr No.

Crankshaft

B50 physical
test (MPa)

Pin Diameter
(mm)

Number of cycles

Calculated cycles by
FEMFAT

% Difference

875

70

10E+06

2.38E+04

99.76%

757

90

10E+06

2.69E+05

97.31%

880

94

10E+06

5.56E+04

99.44%

875

95

10E+06

4.47E+04

99.55%

875

100

10E+06

2.99E+04

99.70%

Without hardening Influence, the fatigue life achieved is very small as compared to
expected no. of cycles (10 Millions)

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Approach 1: Introducing hardness effect via Boundary layer

One of the crankshaft is simulated for fatigue life evaluation using FEMFAT with introducing
hardness effect in terms of UTS at 3mm boundary layer.
Hardness 55 HRC

Fatigue life Requirement:

10Million no. of cycles for 875 MPa

Achieved fatigue life: 9.1 Million cycles

Result correlates well

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Approach 2: Introducing hardness effect via Boundary layer & Forge factor

Following parameters are considered for analysis

Material: Micro alloyed steel.

Pin Diameter: 94 mm
Technological size influence ON
Forge Factor ON (default taken as 1)
Surface Roughness 0.2
Stress ratio R=-1
B50 fatigue life
Mechanical properties (YS, UTS 850 MPa)
Applied stress level 875 MPa

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Following parameters are considered for analysis

Material: Micro alloyed steel.
Pin Diameter: 94 mm
Technological size influence ON
Forge Factor ON introduced as 1.9
Surface Roughness 0.2
Stress ratio R=-1
B50 fatigue life
Mechanical properties (YS, UTS 850 MPa)
Applied stress level 875 MPa
IH Boundary layer ON

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Significance of forge factor during fatigue life evaluation

Forge factor in the FEMFAT depends on geometrical complexities of forging components. we
have related forge factor with pin diameter of crankshaft.

Pin diameter Vs. Forge factor

3

Forge Factor

Dia 70
Dia 90

y = -0.0015x2 + 0.2175x - 5.5546

2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
60

70

80

90

100

110

Pin diameter

Crankshaft

For most of the crankshafts trend observed, as pin diameter increases forge factor decreases.
For few exceptional cases, e.g. if pin diameter is more with less counterweight masses
forge factor varies proportionally with geometry of crankshaft.

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Comparisons of fatigue life evaluated by FEMFAT and physical test

Following crankshafts are simulated for fatigue life evaluation using FEMFAT,

with combination of boundary layer & forge factor effect.

BENDING FATIGUE TEST CORRELATION

B50 physical
Pin Diameter Forge factor
test (MPa)

Calculated cycles by
% Difference
Number of cycles FEMFAT with Forge
With forge factor
factor

Sr No.

Crankshaft

875

70

2.45

10E+06

1.02E+07

-2.0%

757

90

2.06

10E+06

9.77E+06

2.3%

880

94

1.92

10E+06

9.92E+06

0.8%

875

95

1.78

10E+06

1.02E+07

-2.0%

875

100

1.45

10E+06

9.95E+06

0.5%

Results shows good correlation between FEMFAT & physical test

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Conclusion & Future Work

Crankshafts are simulated for fatigue life evaluation using FEMFAT by introducing
processing parameter effect, boundary layer with different hardness ranges & forge factor.
This study shows good correlation with physical test.
This study will be beneficial for virtual estimation of crankshaft fatigue life. This will help
to reduce product development time, cost & efforts.
Correlation for fatigue life between physical test and virtual test will be useful for
crankshaft design & manufacturing process optimization.

Future Work:
To study the effect of different process parameters (hardness, surface finish, case
depth, residual stresses) on fatigue life of crankshaft using FEMFAT and its
experimental validation.

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Thank You

Any Questions?

www.bharatforge.com

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