VHCF Response of H13 Steels Produced with Different Manufacturing Processes

Experimental results have recently shown that failures at stress amplitude below the conventional fatigue limit and at Very High Cycle Fatigue (VHCF) are possible. In case of high-strength steels, VHCF failures generally originate from defects/inclusions present within the material and, consequently, the defect population properties (size and quantity) significantly affect the VHCF response of high-strength steels. Different refinement processes are commonly adopted in order to improve steel cleanliness: among the other, the ElectroSlag Remelting (ESR) process allows to obtain very clean high-strength steels, thus possibly inducing a significant enhancement of the VHCF response. The present paper aims at investigating the actual effect of the ESR process on the VHCF behavior of an AISI H13 steel. Fully reversed ultrasonic tension-compression tests are carried out on hourglass specimens manufactured with and without the ESR process. The estimated P-S-N curves highlight the positive effects of the ESR process on the VHCF response of the investigated H13 steel.