abstract
- As remanufacturing of mechanical components gains traction, understanding the mechanical properties of repaired parts becomes increasingly important. Material deposition using techniques based on welding principles remains a common method for restoring damaged metallic components. This study investigates the effect of a restoration process involving material deposition by welding on the fatigue strength of AISI 304 stainless steel. The process included milling a 1.5-mm-deep groove into the specimens using a 6.35-mm spherical cutter, followed by repair through material deposition with ER308L steel wire via gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW). Three repair orientations were tested to assess the influence of the restoration orientation relative to the sample cross section. Fatigue strength was evaluated using a vibration-based fatigue test with an electrodynamic shaker. A 2% change in resonance frequency, determined through transmissibility curves, was used to detect fatigue failure onset. Fracture surfaces were analyzed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to identify failure origins. The results show that repaired stainless steel retains up to 79% of the endurance of as-received AISI 304 stainless steel while preserving its natural frequency and damping ratio values. © ASM International 2025.