Engineering Failure Analysis 74 (2017) 218–227

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Engineering Failure Analysis

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/engfailanal

Failure analysis of a failed connecting rod cap and connecting

bolts of a reciprocating compressor
Xiaolei Zhu, Jing Xu, Yang Liu, Bo Cen, Xiaofeng Lu ⁎, Zhuo Zeng ⁎
School of Mechanical and Power Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing 211816, China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Connecting rod cap and connecting bolts of a reciprocating compressor are subjected to com-
Received 2 September 2016 plex dynamic loads therefore they are of critical machine elements. The causes for the failure
Received in revised form 19 January 2017 of connecting rod cap and connecting bolts after approximately 175,200 h in service have
Accepted 19 January 2017
been investigated. To determine the failure mechanism of the connecting system and to figure
Available online 22 January 2017
out which of the connecting rod cap and connecting bolts was broken first, material character-
ization and numerical analysis are conducted on the connecting rod and connecting bolts.
Keywords: Scanning electron microscope (SEM) and optical microscope are applied to analysis the
Connecting rod cap
macro and microstructures. The chemical composition and metallographic structure investiga-
Connecting bolts
tion are carried out to study characteristics of the materials. Tensile tests, hardness and impact
Finite element analysis
Curvature mutation position tests are performed to check the mechanical properties of the connecting rod cap and three
Fatigue connecting bolts. A finite element analysis of the connecting system is employed to evaluate
the overall stress distribution with maximum stress criterion. Results of this investigation indi-
cate that the reason of failure was high cycle fatigue and the initial crack location was consis-
tent with high stress concentration at the curvature mutation position of connecting rod cap
which was broken before the connecting bolts.
© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction

Reciprocating compressors consisting of connecting rod, a small head of the connecting rod, crank pin, crankshaft, connecting
rod cap and connecting rod bolts are widely used in plants such as chemical plants, natural gas processing plants which are aimed
at producing the liquid air and other liquid gases. Crankshaft and connecting rod transfer reciprocating motion into rotary motion.
The connecting rod cap and connecting bolts experience complex dynamic forces of piston acceleration and deceleration during
service, loads generated by converting power from engines such as an electric motor, a diesel engine and so on into kinetic energy
[1]. The connecting rod cap and connecting bolts are regarded as critical components in this mechanism [2,3].
Based on formers' researches, fatigue and other factors including inappropriate material selection, poor design, overload bend-
ing, improperly adjusted bolts, spalling and assembly deficiencies were found to be the main causes of the failure of connecting
rod system [4–7]. Taking improper material selection as example, good mechanical properties, hardness, tensile and fatigue
strengths of materials are required to fabricate the connecting rod system to bear the dynamic loads [8,9]. A variety of investiga-
tion directions has been conducted to improve the performance of connecting rods. Zhang et al. [10] discussed the reason and
analyzed the mechanism of the spalling of connecting rod by experiment investigation. Khare et al. [11] proposed the modified

⁎ Corresponding authors at: School of Mechanical and Power Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, China.
E-mail addresses: xflu@njtech.edu.cn (X. Lu), zengzhuo428@foxmail.com (Z. Zeng).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.engfailanal.2017.01.016
1350-6307/© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 X. Zhu et al. / Engineering Failure Analysis 74 (2017) 218–227 219

design of the connecting rod in finite element model to reduce the maximum stress resulting in the significant enhancement of
durability life in test. Lee et al. [12] analyzed the fracture surface caused by the fretting wear acting as a stress raiser inside tang
hole to accelerate fretting fatigue of the failed blade by combining non-linear finite element method and experiment, the FEM re-
sults are in good agreement with those of experiment. Griza et al. [13] and Fadag et al. [14] performed fracture analysis, micro-
structure analysis and numerical simulation with fracture mechanics on connecting bolts.
Any failure in the reciprocating compressor can seriously affect the safety operation of the plant. In this paper, one such a fail-
ure reciprocating compressor exceeding the desired life span has been clearly investigated to figure out the causes of the failure
and which of the connecting rod cap and connecting bolts was broken first by visual inspection, properties tests of materials,
fractography, theoretical analysis and finite element analysis, which is essential to propose suggestions to improve the quality
of the connecting rod system for users to avoid similar problems.

2. Visual inspection

The extent of damage can be determined after disassembling the four connection bolts from the connecting rod cap, as shown
in Fig. 1. Visual inspection of the damaged of the reciprocating air compressor parts was carried out and the observations were
listed as follows:

• The connecting rod cap has an obvious crack which was located at curvature mutation position.
• Initial crack, crack propagation region and ductile crack area also can be detected at the curvature mutation position.
• Three connecting bolts were broken.
• Necking phenomenon was also found at the broken bolts.
• Necking phenomenon indicated that there was a clear plastic deformation before bolts were fractured.
• Almost half of the broken bolts were stuck in the holes cannot be disassembled

3. Materials and experimental methods

Location and appearance inspection of connecting bolts and connecting rod cap fractured surfaces should be conducted at first
in a complete analysis of the failure. The locations of connecting rod cap and connecting bolts test specimens for fractography,
composition analysis, metallography, hardness, tensile test and impact test are shown in Fig. 2. Scanning electron microscope
(SEM) was applied to conduct the fractography study of connection bolts and connecting rod cap fractured surfaces. Optical mi-
croscopy and SEM were used to complete the microstructural examinations on samples taken near the fractured surfaces. The
samples were prepared according to standard metallographic technique including grinding, polishing and etching using ethanol
nitrate (4% HNO3 + 96% ethanol). Vickers micro-hardness tester was employed to measure the hardness of connection bolts
and connecting rod cap. A universal hydraulic testing machine CSS-44000 was used for tensile test specimens, which cut from

Fig. 1. The failed connecting rod: (a) location of initial crack of connecting rod cap, (b) magnified photograph of fractured surface outlined by a square in this figure
(a) and (c) the failed connecting rod bolt.
220 X. Zhu et al. / Engineering Failure Analysis 74 (2017) 218–227

(a) Location of connecting rod cap test specimens (b) Location of connecting bolts test
specimens

Fig. 2. Locations of test specimens.

connection bolts were parallel to the axis of the bolts and the connecting rod cap specimens were cut near the fractured surface.
Impact test specimens taken from the suitable location from them were tested by pendulum impact testing machine.

4. Results and discussions

4.1. Chemical composition

A direct reading spectrometer is employed to conduct chemical composition tests. The average chemical composition of the
connecting rod cap samples and the connecting bolts samples are given in Tables 1 and 2. According to the results, the connecting rod
cap composition is similar to Chinese Standard GB–35Cr and also consistent with American grade –UNS J02501. Meanwhile, the
connecting rod cap composition is similar to Chinese Standard GB–ZG270-500 and also in agreement with American grade–UNS G51350.

4.2. Microstructural study

The specimens of microstructural examinations were cut off near the fractured surfaces of the connecting rod cap and
connecting bolts. The photomicrograph of the connecting rod cap examined using optical microscopy is shown in Fig. 3a. It can
be seen that the microstructure of the connecting rod cap specimen consists of ferrite (light-etched) which located at the den-
drites as block and pearlite (dark-etched). There is a very small amount of substrate ferrite on the iron needles due to insufficient
annealing temperature. Fine-grained ferrite and pearlite image can be observed in the photomicrograph, which indicates that the
connecting rod cap has good mechanical properties. Fig. 3b just displays the photomicrograph of the connecting bolt 1 examined
using optical microscopy for the microstructural examination results of three failed connecting bolts are the same. As seen in

Table 1
Average chemical composition of the connecting rod cap samples (%wt.)

C Si Mn P S Cr Ni Mo Cu

Connecting rod cap samples 0.233 0.51 0.837 0.0193 0.024 0.279 0.204 0.0290 0.1127
UNS J02501 ≤0.25 ≤0.8 ≤1.20 ≤0.035 ≤0.035 / / / /
35Cr ≤0.40 ≤0.60 ≤0.90 ≤0.035 ≤0.035 ≤0.35 ≤0.40 ≤0.20 ≤0.05

Table 2
Average chemical composition of the connecting bolt samples (%wt.)

C Si Mn P S Cr Ni Mo V

Bolt 1 0.321 0.267 0.70 0.0098 0.032 1.05 0.091 0.029 0.0037
Bolt 2 0.326 0.270 0.71 0.0097 0.033 1.05 0.089 0.027 0.0036
Bolt 3 0.323 0.270 0.70 0.0095 0.028 1.04 0.091 0.025 0.0034
UNS G51350 0.33–0.38 0.040 0.6–0.8 ≤0.035 ≤0.04 0.80–1.05 / / /
ZG270–500 0.32–0.39 0.17–0.37 0.50–0.80 ≤0.035 ≤0.035 0.80–1.10 ≤0.03 / /
 X. Zhu et al. / Engineering Failure Analysis 74 (2017) 218–227 221

Fig. 3. Microstructure examined using optical microscopy: (a) microstructure of the connecting rod cap, (b) microstructure of the connecting rod bolt 1.

micrograph, the matrix is tempered sorbite on which was distributed of mesh and needle ferrite. Results of microstructural exam-
ination suggest that the connecting rod cap and the connecting bolts materials are consistent with the standard.

4.3. Mechanical properties

Tensile tests are conducted by using three standard samples of connecting rod cap and nine samples (three samples of each
broken bolts) of connecting bolts on a universal hydraulic testing machine, the results are shown in Fig. 4. The procedure for
the tensile test follows the standard ASTM E8M-2004. Hardness and impact tests are carried out with three standard samples
of connecting rod cap and nine samples (three samples of each broken bolts) of connecting bolts. The results presented in
Tables 3 and 4 show the average values of the samples of connecting rod cap and connecting bolts. Compared to 35Cr and

(a) The average value result of the samples of (b) The average value result of the samples of
connecting rod cap connecting bolt 1

(c) The average value result of the samples of (d) The average value result of the samples of
connecting bolt 2 connecting bolt 3

Fig. 4. Tensile test results.

222 X. Zhu et al. / Engineering Failure Analysis 74 (2017) 218–227

Table 3
Results of the connecting rod cap tensile, hardness and impact tests.

Tensile stresses Hardness (HBW) Impact energy (J)

YS (MPa) UTS (MPa) Reduction of area (%)

Connecting rod cap samples 303.65 503.09 41.07 153.23 30.25

UNS J02501 ≥275 ≥485 ≥30
35Cr ≥270 ≥500 ≥25 140–170 27

Table 4
Results of the connecting rod bolt tensile, hardness tests and impact tests.

Tensile stresses Hardness (HBW) Impact energy (J)

YS (MPa) UTS (MPa) Reduction of area (%)

Bolt 1 691.20 773.65 55.67 247.62 37.67

Bolt 2 694.34 785.52 52.34 248.41 38.33
Bolt 3 687.24 797.44 56.60 25.94 38.92
ZG270-500 735 930 45 ≥207 47

UNS J02501, the connecting rod cap has good mechanical properties. The connecting bolts have relatively lower values for the ul-
timate tensile strength and yield strength, but the values for elongation and area reduction are higher, which indicate good tough-
ness of the material according to the ZG270-500.

4.4. Analysis of fractured surface

Fig. 1b displayed visual examination on fracture surface of the connecting rod cap, which shows that fatigue seems to be the
main reason of failure as proofed by the presence of initial crack, crack propagation and final shear failure marked as A, B and C.

(a) Initial crack region (b) Ductile striations indicating fatigue failure

(c) Shear failure in skin (d) EDS-spectra of inclusion marked A in (c)

Fig. 5. Macro and micro views of the failed connecting rod cap.
 X. Zhu et al. / Engineering Failure Analysis 74 (2017) 218–227 223

(a) Fracture surface of bolt (b) Initial crack region

(c) Tire tracks (d) Shear failure

Fig. 6. Macro and micro views of the failed connecting bolt 1.

The crack was found at the curvature mutation position of the connecting rod cap where stress concentration was high, as shown
in Fig. 1a. Further examination on the fractured surface of the connecting rod cap presents that the fatigue region shown in Fig. 1b
is relatively large, around 70% of the total fractured surface. Fig. 5 shows the detailed view of regions A, B and C. SEM fractograph
of the initial crack region of connecting rod cap are shown in Fig. 5a. It seems that the curvature mutation position can cause the
stress concentration leading to crack initiation. Fig. 5b shows SEM fractograph of fatigue crack growth region of the failed
connecting rod cap where crack propagates from top to bottom. The averaged distance between striations is relatively narrow
and cycle index of failed connecting rod cap was obviously N105, which found in this investigation suggests a high cycle fatigue
failure. Fig. 5c shows SEM fractograph of dimpled shear fracture features that is the last step of the crack and the EDS (energy
dispersive spectrometer) of the outline square material are shown in Fig. 5d. This is not inclusion but the residual material caused
by the sample cutting process.

Fig. 7. Forces act on a connecting rod.

224 X. Zhu et al. / Engineering Failure Analysis 74 (2017) 218–227

Table 5
Data of the connecting rod.

M1 ω r d

85 kg 49.08 rad/s 500 mm 44 mm

Results of visual examination on fracture surface marked as D of the connecting bolts are almost the same and take connecting
bolt 1 as example, as shown in Fig. 1c, which show that fatigue and the overload seems to be the main cause of failure. As shown
in Fig. 6a, there are extrusion surface and deep hole on the fracture surface, which were caused by the effect of sudden increasing
bending moment and tensile force in the process of fracture, the extruded surface microstructure as shown in Fig. 6b. Obvious
fatigue characteristics of tire tracks can be seen on the fracture surface, as shown in Fig. 6c. A large number of dimples were
found in Fracture extension area and short-break area indicating that the toughness of the bolts is excellent as shown in Fig. 6d.

(a) Boundary condition and global mesh of the model.

107,5
4
R24

60
R164

117
56

1
R3
20

8
R28
R2
285

40

680

55 298

R30
215
115

(b) The dimension of the model

Fig. 8. The Boundary condition and dimension of the model.
 X. Zhu et al. / Engineering Failure Analysis 74 (2017) 218–227 225

4.5. Stress analysis of connecting bolts

Forces on a reciprocating compressor are complex for a connecting rod is applied to transform rotation of crankshaft into pis-
ton reciprocating motion, as shown in Fig. 7. Timoshenko et al. [15] proposed stress analysis of a connecting rod. For simplicity,
analysis of the forces proposed based on assumptions that the connecting rod cap and piston can be regarded as masses; the ra-
dius of the crankshaft which rotates at angular velocity of ω is r, d is the connecting rod bolt diameter. Data of the connecting rod
supplied by the manufacturer are shown in Table 5. The inertia force of mass M1 is:

2
F C ¼ −M1 ω r ð1Þ

Taking the balance of the connecting rod motion process into consideration, the maximum force of each connecting bolt
equals:

F maxbolt ¼ F C =4 ð2Þ

According to Eq. (2), the maximum stress of each connecting rod bolt equals:

2
σ maxbolt ¼4F maxbolt =πd ð3Þ

Calculating the σmax bolt with the supplied data by the Eq. (3), σmax bolt = 49.08 MPa.
As mentioned in tensile test, the yield stress [σ]s bolt of connecting rod bolt is 670.51 MPa, which means the [σ]s bolt is much
more lager than the σmax bolt.
As shown in the above stress analysis of connecting bolts, the bolts of compressor would not be broken under condition of
normal operation but sudden dynamic loads may have a potency to cause fatigue failure when the bolts loads sudden increase.
The stress analysis of connecting rod cap can't be predicted precisely for the irregular shape of it, other method for example
FEM analysis should be taken to solve this problem.

4.6. Finite element analysis of the connecting rod cap

4.6.1. FEA model

Unreasonable structure design that no fillet in the location of the crack of connecting rod cap is supposed to be the main cause
of fracture failure based on the actual failure analysis of connecting rod cap and connecting bolts. The purpose of FEM is to prove
that the crack of connecting rod cap is due to stress concentration caused by no fillet of fracture region. The ABAQUS/Explicit was
applied to evaluate the mechanical behavior of the connecting rod cap. Small connecting rod end and connecting rod were ig-
nored in the geometrical model for failure did not occur on them before failure occur on connecting rod cap and bolts; the bound-
ary condition and dimension of finite element model are shown in Fig. 8a and b. The crankpin was modeled as discrete rigid since
the crankpin hardness is much more than connecting rod. The connecting bolts were meshed with C3D8R solid elements, the
elastic-plastic material properties of bolts whose elastic modulus and Poisson's ratio are 185GPa and 0.25 are shown in Fig. 4.
Strain-based brittle cracking according to the maximum stress criterion was applied to simulate the deformation and failure of
connecting rod cap. The elastic modulus and Poisson's ratio of connecting rod cap which was meshed with C3D10M solid ele-
ments are 206 GPa and 0.28, the ultimate tensile strength of which is 503.09 MPa, respectively. The surface-to-surface contact

Fig. 9. Crack generation spot.

226 X. Zhu et al. / Engineering Failure Analysis 74 (2017) 218–227

Fig. 10. The comparison between the FEA result and the visual crack.

was employed on the interfaces between the bolts, crankpin and the connecting rod cap and the friction coefficient was equaled
to 0.15. All the dimension of the connecting rod cap and bolts models were the same with those of the real device.

4.6.2. FEA result

The Mises stress field of the connecting rod cap with the bolted assembly is given in Fig. 9, the areas where stress is higher
than 503.6 MPa that was ultimate tensile strength of the connecting rod cap is around the curvature mutation position highlight-
ed by the circle, which indicates that curvature mutation position where the initial crack is about to occur. With load going on, the
fracture of connecting rod cap would happen. The comparison between the FE result and the visual crack are demonstrated in Fig.
10. At the same time, the maximum stress of connecting bolts is around 652.3 MPa which is below the yield strength of
connecting bolts, the fracture of connecting bolts doesn't happen, as shown in the Fig. 11. The result indicates that while the frac-
ture of connecting rod cap occurs, the maximum stress of connecting bolts is far away from its ultimate tensile strength. The
connecting bolts would not be broken unless the bolt loads sudden increased after the crack of connecting rod cap.
Combining stress theory analysis and finite element analysis, we can safely come to a conclusion that the fracture of
connecting rod cap reciprocating compressor is earlier than the fracture of connecting bolts due to the existence of stress concen-
tration at curvature mutation position of the connecting rod cap and the better mechanical property of connecting bolts under
dynamic loads. It is suggested that the geometric dimension around the curvature mutation position should be optimized to de-
crease stress concentration or partial strengthening can be applied to improve the fatigue strength, thus longer service time could
be achieved.

5. Conclusions and recommendations

1. Results of chemical composition, hardness measurement, impact test and tensile test led to the conclusion that the connecting
rod cap material was equivalent to Chinese Standard GB–35Cr and also consistent with American grade–UNS J02501and the

Fig. 11. Stress distribution of connecting bolts while the crack of connecting rod cap happens.
 X. Zhu et al. / Engineering Failure Analysis 74 (2017) 218–227 227

connecting bolts were coincide with Chinese Standard GB–ZG270-500 and also in agreement with American grade–UNS
G51350. The components of connecting rod cap and connecting bolts material conform to the requirements.
2. The metallographic structure of connecting rod cap sample is ferrite and pearlite, and the connecting rod bolt sample's micro-
structure of substrate is tempered sorbite. Both of them correspond to the standards organization map.
3. Connecting rod cap failure mode is high cycle fatigue fracture. Fracture position was located on the part of the curvature mu-
tation position of the connecting rod cap, and this part will produce stress concentration under the normal operation condition
and the initial micro crack would expand to fracture under dynamic load.
4. The fracture of connecting rod cap resulted in releasing circumferential freedom of crankshaft to increase the connecting bolts
load. The connecting bolts occurred plastic deformation at first and were broken finally.
5. Strict control of condition change of the compressor in the operation process should be taken, and it should be stopped in time
under abnormal phenomenon.
6. Stress concentration on the terminal of the connecting rod cap shall be strictly controlled in the process of maintenance and
inspection appraisal may be done on the part of the curvature change of the connecting rod cap when it is necessary.

Acknowledgements

Financial supports from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 11402132, 11401272) and the Natural Science
Foundation of Jiangsu Province of China grant (BK 20140105, BK20131411) were gratefully acknowledged.

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