Corrosion-fatigue failure of tractor trailers metal materials in aggressive environments

Abstract The processes of corrosion-fatigue failure of materials in contact with mineral fertilizers are insufficiently studied. As a result of joint influence of atmospheric corrosion and mechanical loads, about 70 to 80 % of machine parts get out of order, 20 to 25 % of which are failures caused by operating overload due to the strength loss because of atmospheric corrosion. A large part of metal structures of agricultural vehicles used to transport mineral fertilizers is under the direct influence of aggressive environments and dynamic loads that occur during the motion by field roads. Saturated solutions of the most aggressive working environments used in agricultural production, in particular ammonium sulphate and nitrophosphate are investigated to reduce fatigue resistance of ordinary steels groups – St3 and St5 and quality steels – 10 Steel, 15 Steel, 20 Steel, 25 Steel when loaded at all levels. The fatigue endurance limit decreases in comparison with air up to 2.02 times in a solution of ammonium sulphate, and to 2.32 times in a solution of nitrophosphate. In organic fertilizer environments, compared to distilled water, the conditional fatigue endurance limit increased to 9 %. The properties of the given materials as an inhibitor of corrosion-fatigue failure were discovered and proved.