Rolling contact fatigue resistance of shot peened austempered ductile iron

Abstract

Compared to other ferrous materials, austempered ductile iron (ADI) has marked economic advantages such as low melting temperature, low shrinkage, excellent castability, good machinability, and high damping capacity. This makes it a potential candidate material for automotive components. The desired bulk properties required by these components can be obtained through careful control of the austempering parameters. However, to truly unlock its full potential, surface engineering techniques are necessary to improve the surface properties and characteristics of this material. This study provides an insight on the tribological behaviour of shot peened ADI. Lubricated rolling contact fatigue tests revealed that shot peening resulted in a 72% decrease in the average contact fatigue life when compared to the resulting fatigue life obtained by the as-austempered ADI specimens.