CHARACTER AND CAUSES OF IN-SERVICE NEEDLE

FAILURE IN KNITTING MACHINES

A. Ya. Krasovskii, I. V. Kramarenko, and UDC 620.184.6

V. G. Gaidamaka

Experimental investigations conducted by a number of authors [i], and also the operation
of heavy-duty knitting machines, suggest that their productivity and production quality is
heavily dependent on the longevity of the needles, which are one of the main components that
participate directly in the loop-function process. In our study we investigated the latch-
hook needle (Fig. i) used on single-needle-bed, heavy-duty MS (KO) knitting machines, which
are produced by the Chernovitsy Production Union "Chernovtsylegmash."
In studying the performance of needles under production conditions, the following types
of failures are manifested: heel fracture -- 0.82%, hook fracture -- 60.27%, latch dislodg-
ment -- 8.14%, hook straightening -- 18.5%, and others -- 11.22% (Fig. 2). As is apparent,
hook failure accounts for the greatest damage, while the heel of the needle fails least of
all. Increased longevity of the needle hook is therefore a basic factor in extending its
life.
Oil moving through lock k e ~ a y s , the needle is put through a back-and-forth motion in
the working process. In this case the heel of the needle periodically experiences alternat-
ing-sign impacts at the moment of the change in the direction of motion. As a result, the
hook operates under an alternating-sign repetitive loading, which develops as a result of
interference of the shock waves that propagate along the shaft after the heel impacts against
the key, the action of inertial forces proportional to the mass of the hook, operating loads,
collisions between the latch and hook, and collisions between the hook and thread guide.
Considering this, it is possible to propose that failure of the hook and heel are fatigue in
nature.
To confirm this assumption and to ascertain the causes of failure and the mechanism of
crack development, we performed a fractographic analysis of the fracture surfaces of needles
with a broken hook and heel. To perform the fractographic examination, we selected needles
that had been operated to failure under production conditions for the smallest (2-i0~-3.10 ~)
and greatest (2-106-3-106 ) number of loading cycles.
The examinations were conducted on needles of'the same batch, which were produced from
steel St. U8 and which had been subjected to the standard heat treatment (quenching, low tem-
pering). The production technology also calls for vibropolishing of the needles for surface

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r)

I I

Fig. 1 Fig. 2
Fig. i. Latch-hook needle used in type KO heavy-duty knitting
machines: i) heel; 2) latch; 3) hook.
Fig. 2. Diagram showing needle failures.

Institute of Strength Problems, Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR, Kiev. Trans-
lated from Problemy Prochnosti, No. 7, pp. 68-71, July, 1983. Original article submitted
November 16, 1982.

0039-2316/83/1507-0969507.50 9 1984 Plenum Publishing Corporation 969

 Fig. 3. Fracture surface of needles failed at hook: a) initiation of
fatigue crsck (arrows indicatemicroheterogeneities on lateral surface of needle
from which origin fatigue crack develops); b) general appearance of fracture
of needle hook (three zones of fatigue-crack development are visible~ arrows
indicate principal direction of crack movement)~ c) microrelief of surface
in zone of crack-pit initiation; d) microrelief of surface in zone of stable
crack development -- intergrain failure along boundaries of pit grains~ e)
microrelief of surface in zone of stable crack growth near incomplete frac-
ture~ f) microrelief of surface in zone of incomplete fracture-pit.

hardening. The number of needles in a batch was determined by the method described in [2]
as a function of the confidence probability a, the coefficient of variation v, and the rela-
tive error Aa; in this case, v =0.03 and Aa =0.04 when a =0.95. The minimum number of
needles was n =3.
Fractographic examination of the fracture surface was accomplished on a " S t e r e o s c a n " -
type scanning electron microscope. Fractographs of the microrelief of the fracture surface
of a hook are presented in Fig. 3. The fractographic analysis made it possible to establish
the point of crack initiation and the fatigue character of crack development. Crack initia-
tion (Fig. 4) occurred from the inside of the hook at the startinE point of its bend: this
agrees with the maximum stress that develops in the hook due to inertial forces as the needle
heel slides against the key at the moment of the change in the direction of motion.
Heterogeneities, microcracks, and mechanical striations are observed when the lateral
surface in the section of crack initiation is examined in detail under a microscope (Fig.
3a). This could be an additional factor that had given rise to crack initiation as a result
of stress concentration.
~le fracture surface of the needles consisted primarily of three zones (Fig. 5), which
differed from one another not only by the morphology of the surface structure, but also by
the slope of the plane with respect to the axis (Fig. 3b). The exposed character of the
crack development agrees well with Forsyth's familiar model of fatigue-crack propagation [3].
Zone I, where initiation and initial crack development occur, is inclined at a significant
angle to the axis of the needle, which is determined by the position of the plane of action
of the maximum tangential stresses critical to the formation of a shear microcrack in the
first stage [4], which then transforms into a principal crack. The pitted structure of the
fracture is apparent in Fig. 3c. The pits are somewhat elongated in the direction of crack
movement; this also confirms the decisive role of the shear component in the first stage of
fatigue-crack propagation [5]. The crack then turns in the plane normal to the axis -- zone
II (Figs. 5, 3b). Intergrain failure (Fig. 3d) is characteristic for this stage, and no
fatigue striations are detected. Similar results for steels with a tempered martensitic
structure in the second stage were made mention of, e.g., in [6].

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 Fig. 4 Fig. 5
Fig. 4. Point of crack initiation in
needle hook.
Fig. 5. Diagram showing profile of
needle-hook fracture (arrow indicates
direction of crack development): I)
zone of initiation and initial crack
development; II) zone of stable fatigue-
crack development; III) incomplete
fracture.

Viscous failure with the formation of equiaxial pits can be frequently observed along
the grain boundaries. The ratio of intergrain failure to pits varies as we proceed from the
boundary of zone I to the incomplete fracture (Fig. 3e) in the direction of an increase in
the portion of the fracture surface occupied by pits.
In the second stage of fatigue-crack development, normal tensile stresses exert a pre-
dominant influence. The proper shape of the pits serves to confirm this [5].
It should ~iso be noted that a similar type of intergrain failure is observed as a
result of corrosion cracking in active media [7]. In our case the humidity of the air could
have exerted an aggravating influence.
In zone III (Fig. 5), failure (incomplete cyclic fracture) occurred via the mechanism
of micropore initiation, growth, and linking (Fig. 3f)~ the fracture is viscous and pitted.
For needles having endured the maximum number of loading cycles, the zone of crack initi-
ation occupies approximately 1/5-1/4 of the fracture surface, the zone of stable crack growth
3/5-1/2, and incomplete fracture approximately 1/5-1/4. For needles having been put through
tile minimum number of cycles, this relationship changes in the direction of an increase in
the zone of incomplete fracture and vigorous constriction in the area of the zone of stable
crack development and initiation.
Fractographic analysis of the fracture of needles with failed heels did not reveal micro-
scopic signs of fatigue-crack development. Heel failure apparently occurred quasistatically
as a result of regularly repetitive, or even one-time overloading.
Investigation of the types of malfunctions indicated that needle failure is random in
nature; in this case the service life of the needles may vary over a broad range; this may be
governed by a number of factors: instability of the physicomechanical properties of the
needle material, poor-quality thread, collisions between the individual needles and thread
guides, or other random overloadings.
To eliminate additional factors that diminish needle longevity (low-quality yarn, colli-
sions ~Tith the thread guides), we conducted fatigue tests on a special bench, which simulates
the work of a needle under operating conditions but makes it possible to exclude these fac-
tors. The tests indicated that even in this case, failure of the needle hook is fatigue in
nature.
Fractographic analysis suggests the identical nature of the mechanisms of fatigue-crack
propagation in needles tested on the bench and failed under real operating conditions.
Since the endurance characteristics are sensitive to the condition of the surface layer,
especially in the stages of fatigue-crack initiation and initial development, we measured
the microhardness in the zone of the needle hook. In this case a significant scatter was
observed in microhardness values both between and within batches; this could have been

971
caused by instability in the properties of the blank material, the heat treatment, and vibra-
tory polishing. Metallographic analysis of the needles of different batches at the point of
hook failure indicated that they have the structure of tempered martensite of different dis-
persity.

CONCLUSIONS
i. The types of failures experienced by knitting-machine needles are ascertained and
it is established that breakdown of the hook is primary among these failures.
2. I1ook failure is fatigue in nature, while heel failure is quasistatic owing to
repeated or one-time overloading.
3. The point of crack initiation, which is located on the inside of the hook at the
starting point of its bend, is detected.
4. The microstructure of needles ~ith different service lives is investigated, and
the instability of the physicomechanical properties of the material from which the needle
is fabricated is ascertained.
5. The following measures can be recommended to increase needle longevity: analysis
of sources of random overloads, and their reduction for complete elimination; exclusion of
production operations that give rise to the application of transverse scratches and stria-
tions during needle fabrication, especially in the bend region of the hook on the inside;
and ascertaining and eliminating sources of instability in the physicomechanical properties
of the needle material.

LITERATURE CITED
i. V . P . Voloshchenko, B. F. Pipa, and S. T. Shipukov, Operational Reliability of
Machinery Used in Knitted-fabric Production [in Russian], Tekhnika, Kiev (1977).
2. M . N . Stepanov, Statistical Processing of Mechanical Test Results [in Russian],
Mashinostroenie, Moscow (1972).
3. P . J . E. Forsyth, "Fatigue damage and crack growth in aluminum alloys," Acta Met., No.
ii, 703-715 (1963).
4. C. Laird, "The influence of metallurgical structure on the mechanisms of fatigue crack
propagation," in: Fatigue Crack Propagation, Philadelphia (1967), pp. 131-168.
5. D. Broek, "Some contributions of electron fractography to the theory of fracture," Int.
Met. Rev., 19, 135-182 (1974).
6. L . R . Botvina, 'Fatigue-failure criterion characterizing the start of developed plastic
flow at the crack tip," in: Cyclic Fracture Toughness of Metals and Alloys fin
Russian], Nauka, Moscow (1981), pp. 53-59.
7. K . D . Beacham, "Fracture microprocesses," in: Fracture [Russian translation], Vol. i,
Mir, Moscow (1973), pp. 265-374.

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