1. Scope

Keywords

Rationale

Steel cleanness (the presence of nonmetallic inclusions) has been measured by various ultrasonic methods for many years. ASTM E588 (Standard Practice for Detection of Large Inclusions in Bearing Quality Steel by the Ultrasonic Method) was originally published in 1976 and is still useful for detecting large inclusions. With the advances in clean steel making over the intervening years, the probability of finding large inclusions with E588 is less likely and the test regularly produces zero values. A more sensitive ultrasonic cleanness method is needed to distinguish between known cleanness levels. The purpose of this Work Item is to develop an ultrasonic procedure to detect smaller inclusions than E588 and to use the supplied product (bar or tube) as the sample instead of a fabricated sample (forged 4x4). The tentative name for the new procedure is “Standard Practice for Ultrasonic Detection of Meso Inclusions in Steel”. The purpose of this new standard, as is the case with E588, is to only generate data and not to express it as meaningful cleanness metrics. The definition of meaningful cleanness metrics will need to be done by bearing steel users as is relevant to the fatigue life expectation of specific bearings. The intent of this Work Item is to develop a procedure based on information in the public domain (much of it presented at ASTM bearing steel symposia) utilizing off-the-shelf equipment and data collections tools. Participants in the development of this standard will be restricted to members of the A01.28 Subcommittee on Bearing and Power Transmission Steels who are able and willing to participate in round robins and work in an open and collaborative fashion.