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Fracture Characteristics of Fatigue Failure of a Vehicle’s Ductile Iron Steering

Knuckle

Article  in  Journal of Failure Analysis and Prevention · August 2009

DOI: 10.1007/s11668-009-9245-y

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J Fail. Anal. and Preven. (2009) 9:323–328
DOI 10.1007/s11668-009-9245-y

CASE HISTORY—PEER-REVIEWED

Fracture Characteristics of Fatigue Failure of a Vehicle’s Ductile

Iron Steering Knuckle
G. K. Triantafyllidis Æ A. Antonopoulos Æ
A. Spiliotis Æ S. Fedonos Æ D. Repanis

Submitted: 20 November 2008 / Accepted: 5 March 2009 / Published online: 15 May 2009
Ó ASM International 2009

Abstract The steering knuckle, being a part of the conducted as presented in this article reveals the mecha-
vehicle’s steering and suspension system, undergoes time- nism of fracture mainly due to bending fatigue.
varying loading during its service life. Since it is connected
to the steering parts and strut assembly from one side and Keywords Steering knuckle
Ductile iron

the wheel hub assembly from the other, it has complex Fracture (ductile-brittle)
Fractography
Fatigue
restraint and constraint conditions and tolerates a combi-
nation of loads. In addition, parameters such as internal
defects, stress concentrations and gradients, surface finish, Introduction
and residual stresses can have considerable influence while
designing for fatigue. A vehicle with a 2.500 cm3 (2.5 L) Steering knuckles are very crucial components of the
volume engine was being driven during a rainy day in a vehicle’s steering and suspension system. In fact, the
congested road at a speed of about 10 km/h, when suddenly steering knuckle acts as a link between the steering and
the vehicle lost its orientation and crushed over a parked suspension systems. Any failure in these components
vehicle on the right side of the road without any human results immediately in loss of the orientation of the vehicle.
injury. The driver insisted that he heard an intense noise of Related also to its velocity human injuries or even loss of
a metal undergoing rupture from the front right side of the lives are with no doubt expected due to inevitable crashes.
vehicle’s suspension system and immediately lost control The materials for the construction of steering knuckles in
of the vehicle. The producing company of the vehicle on the vehicle industry are forged steel, aluminum alloys, cast
the other hand, after on-site visual inspection, came to the steel, and cast iron. In this case, the construction material is
conclusion that due to the driver’s error the vehicle turned ductile iron (DI). Figure 1(a) shows a drawing of the
to the right and as a consequence of the crash the steering position of the knuckle in the steering system. The outer tie
knuckle was broken into two parts. Failure analysis rod is connected to the steering knuckle that actually turns
the front wheels. The steering knuckle has an upper and
lower ball joint that pivots on and creates the geometry of
the steering axis. The importance of the knuckle’s position
G. K. Triantafyllidis (&)
A. Antonopoulos
A. Spiliotis
makes it an integral part of the steering system, which
S. Fedonos undergoes repeated bending loads around the area of fail-
Faculty of Engineering, Chemical Engineering Department, ure. In Fig. 1(b) the arrows indicate the point, in a drawing
Laboratory of Materials Technology, Aristotle University of
and a real knuckle, where the fracture occurred. The frac-
Thessaloniki, 540 24 Thessaloniki, Region of Central
Macedonia, Greece ture point is located at the end of the T-junction
e-mail: gktrian@cheng.auth.gr reinforcement of the casting designed to accept loads
URL: http://cheng.auth.gr imposed by the connection of the outer tie rod to the
knuckle. The fracture happened in ambient temperature.
D. Repanis
Hitiria Makedonias SA, Sindos, Thessaloniki, Region of Central The small broken part of the knuckle exhibited excellent
Macedonia, Greece fracture characteristics, which were found insufficient to

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324 J Fail. Anal. and Preven. (2009) 9:323–328

support a fracture mechanism by themselves. In order to each diameter U10, U25, U30, and U50 mm). Chemical
collect more data (further to those presented in the litera- control of the melt was done by thermal analysis and the
ture) related to fracture characteristics of the DI specimens, final materials were characterized as DI according to EN
we prepared a series of cylindrical castings and tried to 1563. From each of the above casting, tensile specimens
connect the casting modulus to the tensile properties under were prepared with d0 = 6 mm for U10 and d0 = 14 mm
different strain rates and their fracture characteristics. for the other diameters according to the Swedish standard
We monitored the failure of these components. Their SS 11 21 27 [2]. As a whole 24 tensile specimens were
fracture characteristics were identified by scanning electron prepared, 6 with d0 = 6 mm and 18 with d0 = 14 mm.
microscopy (SEM) imaging and made possible the step-by- These specimens were subjected to monotonic tensile
step scientific interpretation of the fatigue mechanism. testing under different crosshead velocities (0, 21 –1, 1 and
Chemical analysis, stereo photography, and optical metal- 2, 1 mm/s) for each casting modulus. The testing was
lography added the necessary data to complete the study. carried out at ambient temperatures.
From the upper arm of the steering knuckle, which is
connected to the front strut damper, a specimen with
Experimental Procedure dimensions 10 9 10 9 55 mm was abstracted for a
Charpy V-notch impact test according to ASTM.
From the small broken part of the knuckle and close to The fracture surface of the broken part of the steering
the fracture surface, a 10-mm-thick slice was cut off in knuckle, the tensile specimens and the impact specimen
order to conduct chemical analysis by OES and optical were observed under a stereoscope and further under the
metallography. SEM. The SEM images for analyzing the topography of
A series of cylindrical castings with ferritic (12 pieces) the fracture surface of the broken part of the knuckle, the
and ferritic–pearlitic (12 pieces) microstructure were cast tensile specimens and the impact specimen were 54 from
according to [1] in different diameters (three pieces for whole the surface, 15 across the main diameter of each
cylinder, and 10 across the direction of the decoherence,
respectively.

Results

The metallographic observation, as presented in Fig. 2, and

the chemical analysis, Table 1, from the 10-mm slice,
which was cut off from the small broken part, shows that
the knuckle was constructed from DI. At the metallo-
graphic observation non-inclusion or defect was observed
at the matrix, which was ferritic–pearlitic.

Fig. 1 (a) A drawing of the position of a steering knuckle in the

steering and suspension system; (b) a real and a drawing knuckle. The Fig. 2 Optical metallography of the 10-mm-thick slice which was cut
arrows indicate the point where the fracture occurred off near the area of failure

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J Fail. Anal. and Preven. (2009) 9:323–328 325

Table 1 Chemical analysis (wt.%) of the steering knuckle

%C %Si %Mn %P %S %Cr %Mo %Ni %Al %Co %Cu %Nb

3.501 2.457 0.2047 0.024 0.015 0.031 0.015 0.010 0.014 \0.01 0.049 0.005
%Ti %V %W %Pb %Sn %Mg %Zr %Sb %Zn %N %Fe

0.020 0.0107 \0.01 0.005 0.005 0.031 0.001 0.001 0.001 0.004 93.6

Fig. 3 Stereoscopic view of the fracture surface of the specimen with

pearlitic microstructure, from the tensile specimen with d0 = 14 mm
tested under 2, 1 mm/s crosshead velocity

All fracture surfaces of the tensile specimens exhibited

similar, macroscopic and microscopic, fracture character-
istics. Figure 3 shows a stereoscopic image of the fracture
surface of the specimen with pearlitic microstructure, from
the tensile specimen with d0 = 14 mm tested under 2,
1 mm/s crosshead velocity. An internal dull fibrous cyclic Fig. 4 Two SEM images from the specimen shown in Fig. 3. The
surface and an external flat and smooth surface with small upper part is from the cyclic internal and the lower part is from the
sparkling areas are clearly identified. In Fig. 4 two SEM external surface
images from the specimen shown in Fig. 3 are presented,
the upper from the cyclic internal and the lower from the
external surface. As shown in Fig. 4, the fracture mode for
the internal cyclic surface is ductile with dimples whereas
brittle cleavage fracture covers the external area.
All 10 SEM images taken from the Charpy impact
specimen exhibited the same characteristics. The fracture
mode for this specimen, as shown in Fig. 5, is cleavage
decoherence.
Figure 6(a) shows a stereoscopic view of the surface of
the broken small part of the knuckle. The surface at the
widest part has fibrous texture and the radials, which run
across a part of the surface, are obvious. Figure 6(b) shows
a simple drawing with the positions of SEM images taken
in this part, and Fig. 6(c) forms a drawing with the dis-
tinctive six areas of the surface related to the macroscopic Fig. 5 SEM image from the fracture surface of the Charpy impact
fracture characteristics. specimen

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326 J Fail. Anal. and Preven. (2009) 9:323–328

Fig. 7 Two SEM images of the ultra-fine fracture characteristics of

area a

surface. Figure 10 presents a SEM image of the area f,

where the rupture of the nodules graphite is obvious.

Discussion

All the tensile specimens exhibited both ductile and brittle

fracture characteristics, as shown in Fig. 3 and 4. This
Fig. 6 (a) Stereoscopic view of the fracture surface of the broken
shows that under the given stress and temperature condi-
small part of the knuckle; (b) a drawing of the fracture surface of the
broken small part with the positions of SEM images; (c) a drawing tions the specimens were in the ductile to brittle transition
with the distinctive six areas of the surface related to the macroscopic area, which is expected for DI with ferritic–pearlitic
fracture characteristics of the broken small part microstructure.
The fracture surface from the Charpy V-notch impact
test exhibits only brittle cleavage characteristics. If the
Area a exhibits 100% ultra-fine characteristics (probably fracture happened from the impact with the parked vehicle,
dimples), as shown in Fig. 7. Area b exhibits, at a per- which is the main allegation of the company for the
centage of 90%, ductile dimple fracture in both the ferritic knuckle’s fracture, the fracture surface should conclude in
and the pearlitic areas, as shown in Fig. 8. The radials that the majority brittle cleavage characteristics and radials at
start from area a run across the widest part of area b and the direction of the impact, mainly at the horizontal z–y
stop in area c, which is practically flat. In Fig. 9 the brittle plane. The fracture surface of the broken knuckle includes
cleavage fracture which exhibits area c, at a percentage of a small area with ultra-fine characteristics, an area with
90%, in both the ferritic and the pearlitic microstructures is ductile dimple characteristics, and a broad area where
visible. Area e appears as a hill in the fracture surface cleavage decoherence prevails. Furthermore, the area that
which divides the surface into two parts (the upper and the contains macroscopic radials has mainly ductile dimple
lower parts). Area d is a vertical plane related to the whole characteristics.

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J Fail. Anal. and Preven. (2009) 9:323–328 327

Fig. 8 Two SEM images of the ductile dimple fracture in both the
ferritic and the pearlitic areas of area b
Fig. 9 Two SEM images of the brittle cleavage fracture of area c

The knuckle due to its position in the steering and sus-

pension system accepts various loads. Especially, the
connection of the knuckle to the tie rod assembly under-
goes repeated bending loads during the vehicle’s
movement, mainly at the vertical axis, z. This connection,
which is parallel to the road, is located after the T-junction
reinforcement of the casting. The plane of failure, which is
vertical to the road, seems to have started from the corner
of a area. The fracture in this area appears to be the result
of a microplastic tearing process that operates on a very
small submicron scale, similar to the tearing topography
surface (TTS) mode of fracture [3]. The crack propagated
to the area b with a lower energy fracture mechanism and
led to the propagation of the crack of area c with a high
energy mechanism. Under area e, which is a hill separating
the surface into two regions, the final decoherence occur-
Fig. 10 A SEM image of the rupture of the nodules graphite of area f
red, possibly due to the crash.

broken knuckle represent the three different stages of

Conclusions fatigue. Area a, with the ultra-fine characteristics, presents
the first stage of fatigue, area b the second, and area c the
The failure of the knuckle examined in the present study third and final stage. Moreover, the radials that run across
could be attributed to bending fatigue. The characteristics area b and coincide near area a amplify the propagation of
of the three distinctive areas a, b, c in the surface of the the crack. Area e divides the fracture surface into two parts.

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328 J Fail. Anal. and Preven. (2009) 9:323–328

The upper one participated to the three-stages fatigue while should be reconsidered after rigorous research of the per-
at the lower one the final fracture occurred. formance of proportional connections in bending fatigue.
Although ductile iron has better fatigue performance at
a given tensile strength from the other cast irons [4], cast
irons, in general, have inferior fatigue performance than References
forged steels when used for the construction of steering
knuckles [5]. This makes ductile iron a second choice 1. The Sorelmetal Book of Ductile Iron, Rio–Tinto Iron and Titanium
alloy type for the construction of steering knuckles. Fur- Inc., Montreal, QC, Canada, First Printing 2004
thermore, while T-junction reinforcements are tested under 2. Svensk Standard SS 11 21 27, MNC Metallnormcentralen
3. Victor, K.: Modes of Fracture, Fractography. ASM Handbook,
various conditions for fatigue performance, the failure in vol. 12, pp. 21, 22, 29. ASM International, Materials Park, OH
this case is located where the T-junction reinforcement (1995)
fades out. 4. Lampman, S.: Fatigue and Fracture Properties of Cast Irons,
Failures of this type could result in, apart from damage Fatigue and Fracture. ASM Handbook, vol. 19, pp. 665–666. ASM
International, Materials Park, OH (1997)
to property, human injuries or even worse loss of lives. The 5. Zoroufi, M., Fatemi A.: Fatigue Life Comparisons of Competing
behavior in bending fatigue of such castings for the con- Manufacturing Processes: A Study of Steering Knuckle, SAE
struction of steering knuckles, which conclude T-joints, Transactions, SAE Technical Paper No. 2004-01-0628, 2004

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