Corrosion fatigue lifetime assessment of high-speed railway axle EA4T steel with artificial scratch

The effects of environment (in air and 3.5 wt% NaCl solution) and artificially-induced surface scratches are investigated on the fatigue properties of railway EA4T (also called 25CrMo4) alloy steel. This steel is found to be markedly sensitive to the chloride-containing environment, with cracking at stresses two thirds of the in-air fatigue limit (+/−326 MPa) under rotating bending (Wöhler) tests. The scratched specimens show even shorter...