Rolling Contact Fatigue Life of Case−Hardened Steel Treated by Shot Peenings with Shot Diameters of 0.05 mm and 0.30 mm

In order to investigate the influence of different shot peenings on the rolling contact fatigue life of case−hardened steel, the thrust type rolling contact fatigue test was performed with a ball−on−disk contact tester. In this study, the case−hardened steel disks were treated by the fine particle peening with a shot diameter of 0.05 mm and the normal shot peening with a shot diameter of 0.30 mm. The surface hardness and the surface compressive residual stress of the test disks were increased by these peenings. On the other hand, the surface roughness of the test disks was increased by the normal shot peening, and was decreased by the fine particle peening. The rolling contact fatigue test showed that the rolling contact fatigue life of the test disks was improved by the fine particle peening, and was not improved by the normal shot peening. The rolling contact fatigue life of the test disks became longer as their surface roughness became smaller. Therefore, it follows from this that the fine particle peening, which can provide the increase in surface hardness and the decrease in surface roughness, is good for the increase in the rolling contact fatigue life of case−hardened steel.