J Fail. Anal. and Preven.
(2009) 9:329334
DOI 10.1007/s11668-009-9247-9
CASE HISTORYPEER-REVIEWED
Failure Analysis on Diesel-Engine Valve Springs
Zhi-Wei Yu Xiao-Lei Xu
Submitted: 1 December 2008 / in revised form: 12 March 2009 / Published online: 29 April 2009
ASM International 2009
Abstract A diesel engine used in a truck had a trouble
when servicing. Inspection indicated that four exhaust and
intake valve springs and two exhaust and intake valves
were fractured. Fractographic studies indicated that fatigue
fracture is the main failure mechanism for all of the four
valve springs. Under the action of the maximum normal
stress, the fatigue crack initiated in the spring wire of coil
1.3-1.5 from the upper end of the spring. This region is also
the most damaged location by contact friction wear. The
fracture of the intake and exhaust valve stems also suggests
fatigue failure probably as a result of the failure of the
associated valve springs.
Keywords Valve spring
Contact friction wear

Fatigue crack
Failure analysis
Introduction
It was reported by the engine manufacturer that a four-
cylinder diesel engine used in truck had a trouble when
servicing. The engine had run for 9800 km before failure.
Inspection on the engine indicated that four valve springs
and two valves were fractured. The valve springs were
made of 55CrSi steel. The intake valves were made of
4Cr10Si2Mo steel. Rod material of the exhaust valve was
4Cr10Si2Mo steel and plate material was 5Cr21Mn9Ni4N
steel.
In this study, the fractured valve springs and nonfrac-
tured valve springs along with the fractured valves from the
Z.-W. Yu
X.-L. Xu (&)
College of Electromechanics and Material Engineering,
Dalian Maritime University, Dalian 116026, P.R. China
e-mail: xxiaolei@dlmu.edu.cn
failed engine were examined to determine the cause of
failure. In addition, the manufacturer of the engine supplied
two used valve springs from a good engine that had been in
service for a long time for comparison.
Experimental Methods
The chemical composition of the fractured valve springs
was analyzed by spectrographic analysis. The microstruc-
ture was observed by scanning electron microscope (SEM).
The fractured surfaces and surface damage morphology
on the spring wire were analyzed by visual and SEM
observation.
Results
Visual Observations
The remains of the failed engine are shown in Fig. 1. The
fractured components are, respectively, the first cylinder
exhaust valve spring, the second cylinder intake valve and
exhaust valve springs and the third cylinder exhaust spring,
and the third intake and exhaust valves (Fig. 2).
Valve Springs
From Fig. 2, the fracture of springs took place at about coil
1.3 (from the upper end), or at the location turning angle of
about 460480 from the upper end. The fracture surfaces
have an angle of about 45 to the tangent direction of the
outside circle of wire at fracture, and a representative
photograph is shown in Fig. 3(a). The fracture surfaces are
relatively smooth and the beach marks were faintly
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Fig. 1 Remains of failed engine
Fig. 2 Fractured valve springs and valves
observed by stereomicroscope. From the curvature of the
beach marks and the crack propagation direction in
instantaneous region, it can be determined that the cracks
origins are situated on the surface of the external circle of
the spring wire (marked in Fig. 3a).
By careful observation, bright bands were found on
upper and lower surface of the wire within coil 3 from the
upper or lower ends of the four fractured springs and from
the two nonfractured springs from the failed engine
(Fig. 4). Bright band also appear on the wire surface
within coil 2.5 of the springs from the unfailed engine.
When the springs were stretched, it is evident that bright
band on the springs from the failed engine is narrow with
a maximum width about 0.7 mm (Fig. 4a). However,
bright band on the springs from unfailed engine is wide
and homogeneous, and the maximum width in the radial is
about 2.3 mm (Fig. 4b). It is noted that the maximum
width of bright band appeared at the wire of coil 1.3-1.5
from the upper or lower end of all the springs. This bright
band is the location at which the crack origins are situated.
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J Fail. Anal. and Preven. (2009) 9:329334
Fig. 3 Fracture orientation and wire surface damage morphology.
(a) Fracture orientation. (b) Squeeze ridges and extruding ditches in
the bright band region
All bright bands appeared on the contacting surfaces of
the adjacent coils pairs. The location and corresponding
width of bright band on the contacting surfaces of the
adjacent coils are the same. It is suggested that bright
band was due to surface damage mark resulting from
contact and wear between the adjacent coils when spring
was compressed and was not from fabrication processes. It
must be mentioned that bright band of the spring from the
failed engine occurred on the wire within the coil 3 from the
upper or lower end, but bright band of the springs from
the unfailed engine occurred on the wire within coil 2.5. It is
suggested that the amount of compressive load on the
springs from the failed engine was greater or the applied
load which the springs sustained was greater than for the
nonfailed springs from the companion engine.
Valves
Fractures took place at the transitional region between rod
and plate of the valve, and crack origins are situated at the
J Fail. Anal. and Preven. (2009) 9:329334
Fig. 4 Surface damage on the spring wire. (a) Exhaust valve spring
from the failed engine. (b) Valve spring from the unfailed engine
external circle surface of the rod (Fig. 2). Bending occur-
red at the rod of the intake valve. Multiple cracks
propagation marks can be observed on the fracture surface
of the intake valve (indicated by white arrows in Fig. 5). It
is suggested that the fracture of the intake valve resulted
from several intense strikes. Crack origin exhibiting point-
like feature and crack propagation marks were observed on
the macrograph of the fracture surface of the exhaust valve.
Overload failure took place after the crack had propagated
about one-third of the way across the valve stem. The
microfeatures of both the intake and exhaust valve stems
suggest fatigue. It can be concluded from these observa-
tions that both valve stems failed by fatigue and that the
fracture probably resulted as a progression from the valve
spring failures.
Valve Springs
SEM observation shows that the four springs exhibit sim-
ilar fractographic features. The crack origins are situated at
the outer circle of the wire and propagated toward lower
331
Fig. 5 Macromorphology of fracture surfaces of the valves
lever along the radial (indicated by dotted arrow in
Fig. 6a). No obvious metallurgical inclusions were found
in the crack origin region (Fig. 6a, b). Fatigue striations,
typical of fatigue [1], were found in the crack propagation
region (Fig. 6c). It is demonstrated further that the fatigue
fracture is the main failure mechanism of the four springs.
The dimple fracture surface morphology can be observed
in the instantaneous fracture region (Fig. 6d). The area of
the instantaneous fracture is about one-third to one half of
the full fracture. It is suggested that the compressive load
which the springs bore was greater than normal and caused
the failures.
Observation on the outer circle surface of the wire close
to the fracture indicates that no metallurgical and
machining defects were found except for the contact fric-
tion wear marks (bright band) (Fig. 3a). The squeezing
ridges and extruding ditches, omens of fatigue crack ini-
tiation [2], were found in the bright band region
(Fig. 3b), and the orientation of the squeeze ridges and
extruding ditches were parallel to the nearby fracture
surface.
Valves
SEM observation shows that the crack origin regions of the
valves and the crack propagation regions show brittle-like
features but such features are often found in ferrous alloys
that fail by low cycle fatigue (Fig. 7). The absence of
fatigue striations does not preclude the fatigue failure
process.
Chemical Composition
The chemical composition of the failed valve spring
materials is presented in Table 1. It can be seen that
chemical composition of the springs are within the speci-
fied range.
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Fig. 6 SEM observation of the fracture surface of the valve spring. (a) General view. (b) Crack origin region. (c) Crack propagation region
showing fatigue striations. (d) Instantaneous fracture region showing dimple morphology
Microstructure Examination
The cross-sectional microstructure of the valve springs
near the fractures was observed by SEM and the four
springs exhibit similar metallurgical features. The micro-
structure is composed of smaller grain-tempered martensite
and was uniform from edge to center (Fig. 8). The fine
grain microstructure is considered good for resistance
against fatigue damage [3]. In addition, the valves reveal
normal microstructure of the grade steels.
Compressive Tests
To examine the elasticity of the springs, compressive tests
were conducted on the four unfractured springs from the
failed engine and two springs from nonfailed engine.
Compressive load P was measured when compressive
amount of springs were specified, L1 = 11.0 mm and L2 =
22.0 mm. It must be mentioned that when L1 = 11.0 mm,
tappet just contacts with circle of camshaft. The exami-
nation results along with the values specified by technical
demands are shown in Table 2. It can be seen that the
compressive load values corresponding to the specified L
are within the range of the technical specification. It was
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J Fail. Anal. and Preven. (2009) 9:329334
noted that when L1 = 11.0 mm, the wire within coil
1.3-1.5 from the ends just begin to touch each other.
Analysis on Failure Causes
From the observation and the examinations in section
Results, it is inferred that the chemical composition of
the fractured springs was within the range of the technical
demand. No surface decarburization was noted on the wire
of the springs. The values of compressive load corre-
sponding to the specified compressive amount are within
the range of the technical demands; however, the specifi-
cations allow for contact between adjacent springs and
such contact can lead to fatigue crack initiation, propaga-
tion, and failure. Once the valve springs fail, the valve
system is destabilized and the high stresses on the stems
because of the destabilization caused low cycle fatigue of
the valve stems.
From sustaining force characteristics of the cylinder-like
compressive spring, when spring was compressed, every
point of wire would bear torque shear stress. Because the
first coil was ground flat, real cross-sectional area with-
standing load was smaller. Moreover, space between coil 1
J Fail. Anal. and Preven. (2009) 9:329334 333

Fig. 8 Microstructure of the valve spring

Table 2 Load values (P) corresponding to specified compressive

amount (L)
L1 = 11.0 mm L2 = 22.0 mm

Failed engine
Spring 1 P = 326 N P = 713 N
Spring 2 P = 330 N P = 715 N
Spring 3 P = 331 N P = 731 N
Spring 4 P = 336 N P = 732 N
Good engine
Spring 5 P = 326 N P = 725 N
Spring 6 P = 326 N P = 712 N
Fig. 7 SEM observations of the fracture surfaces of the valves Specified value 337.9 16.9 N 749.9 37.5 N
(intake valve). (a) Crack origin region. (b) Crack propagation region

Table 1 Chemical composition of valve springs (wt.%)

Element C Si Mn P S Cr Cu Fe

Exhaust valve 1 0.54 1.52 0.77 0.015 0.014 0.78 0.012 Balance
Exhaust valve 2 0.53 1.60 0.78 0.015 0.016 0.77 0.012 Balance
Exhaust valve 3 0.54 1.59 0.76 0.015 0.013 0.77 0.012



Intake valve 1 0.53 1.54 0.77 0.013 0.015 0.79 0.013 Balance
55CrSi 0.500.60 1.201.60 0.500.80 B0.03 B0.03 0.50-0.80 B0.02 Balance

and coil 2 is smaller in design. So, when exerting pre-
tightening load (L1 = 11.0 mm, tappet just contacts with
the circle of camshaft), the wire within coil 1.3-1.5 from
the upper or the lower ends had to contact with each other
to induce a decrease in the real torque shear stress, which
this section of spring wire bore. The location at coil 1.3-1.5
from upper or lower ends would bear the maximum torque
shear stress. Because the maximum normal stress has an
angle of 45 to the shear stress, when the wire bore the
maximum torque shear stress, the wire would bear the
maximum normal stress. In addition, appearance of surface
damage on the wire by contact friction wear facilitated to
initiation of fatigue crack. On the whole, fatigue cracks
initiated at the most damaged zone on the wire by contact
friction wear and normal fracture took place on the springs
by the maximum normal stress.
From the surface damage on the wire of the springs from
the unfailed engine, it can be deduced that in the normal
service condition, wear marks should appear on the wire
within coil 2.5 from the ends. However, for the springs
from the failed engine, wear marks appear on the wire
within coil 3.0 from the ends. Moreover, the overload
fracture area on the whole fracture of the four springs is
larger than anticipated. These observations suggest that the

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compressive load on the springs was greater than normal.
No fatigue crack initiated on the wire of the springs from
the unfailed engine, although more serious contact friction
wear occurred on the wire. In terms of the fracture features
of the valves and occurrence of bending on the rod of the
valve, it can be concluded that abnormal impact loads were
responsible for the fatigue cracks initiation and fracture of
the four valve springs.
Conclusions
Fatigue fracture is the main failure mechanism of the four
valve springs. Under the action of the maximum normal
stress, the fatigue cracks initiated at the most damaged
location of the wire. The damage occurred by contact
friction wear and the fatigue progressed until the remaining
cross section of the wire was too small to support the
compression load and normal fracture took place on the
springs. The fracture of the springs destabilized the valves
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J Fail. Anal. and Preven. (2009) 9:329334
causing abnormal operations and high stresses of the valve
stems. These stresses caused fatigue cracks to be initiated
in the valve stems and led to subsequent failure of the
stems. The reason for the higher than normal loads and the
unusual damage to the valve springs is not apparent;
however, the fact that nonfailed springs also showed wear
by contact of adjacent springs suggests that the basic
design of the engine allows for contact and wear among
adjacent springs and perhaps should be modified to avoid
future failures.
References
1. ASM Metal Handbook: Failure Analysis and Prevention, vol. 11.
American Society for Metals, Metals Park (1986)
2. Books, C.R., Choudhury, A.: Failure Analysis of Engineering
Materials. McGraw-Hill, New York (2002)
3. Jones, D.R.H.: Engineering Materials, vol. 3, p. 358. Pergamon
Press, London (1993)