AbstractThe influence of prior surface condition and of a shot peening treatment on the bending fatigue strength of a standard Si–Cr spring steel (SS 2090) has been investigated. This steel was initially hardened and tempered to a hardness of 52–54 HRC. After shot peening, compressive residual stresses had been introduced into a surface layer of depth ~0·3 mm, with the maximum value of ~1000 MN m−2being found close to the surface. The effect of this treatment was to increase the fatigue limit by ~40% to 890 MN m−2. Coincident with this increase was a change in the site of fatigue initiation from a surface to a subsurface location beneath the compressive residual stress layer. The initiating inclusions, which were 20–40μm in size, were analysed and found to be Al2O3. At stress amplitudes greater than the fatigue limit, initiation was invariably found to occur at the surface and was not always due to inclusions. Inclusion initiated failure has been modelled using the size and spatial distribution of inclusions in the test bars in addition to the variation of applied and residual stresses through the section. A crack propagation criterion based on linear elastic fracture mechanics is used, assuming that propagation is controlled by stress intensity threshold value. It is assumed that small cracks exist at oxide inclusions from the beginning of the fatigue life and that failure is associated with the propagation of one of these cracks.MST/1392