An Experimental Analysis of the High-Cycle Fatigue Fracture of H13 Hot Forging Tool Steels

In this study, the axial fatigue behaviour of hot forging tool steels at room temperature was investigated. Fatigue tests were performed on two steels within the same H13 specification. The fatigue tests were carried out in the high-cycle fatigue domain under normal conditions. These tests were also performed on specimens in contact with a corrosive medium, applying stress values that led to the high-cycle fatigue domain under normal conditions for the sake of comparison. Both materials showed similar fatigue strengths when they were tested under normal conditions. In contrast, corrosion fatigue lives were much lower than in normal tests and differed significantly between the two steels. Crack initiation was triggered by microstructural and surface defects in the normal tests, whereas the formation of corrosion pits caused crack initiation in the corrosion fatigue tests. Moreover, a fracture surface analysis revealed dissimilar crack propagation areas between both steels, which suggested that both steels had different fracture toughness. These results were in line with the differences observed between the carbide and grain sizes of both of the material microstructures.