Crack Arrest of Half-embedding Cracks of In-service 45 Steel Component by Electromagnetic Heating

45 steel tensile specimens with half-embedding cracks were used to perform pulse discharge crack arrest experiment using a self-made ZL-2 super pulse current generation device. The three-point bending test was carried on the tensile specimens before and after the crack arrest using a computer control electronic universal testing machine. The microstructure near the crack tip was analyzed. The results show that the crack tip was instantly melt and dulled after pulse current discharge,resulting in crack arrest. The microstructure around the crack tip was refined. The maximum bending force and bending strength of specimens after crack arrest was improved by 23% and 25% compared specimens before arack arrest respectively.