The effects of bluing, associated with drawing strain, on the fatigue strength of eutectoid steel wires have been investigated. The fatigue limit increases by bluing and the increase is more significant with higher drawing strain. The peak in the fatigue limit with regard to the drawing strain in the wires, at a strain of 2.5, disappears after bluing. On the other hand, in the ferritic steel wires investigated for comparison, the fatigue limit gradually increases with the drawing strain up to 7.7. Furthermore, no appreciable change in the fatigue limit due to bluing is found. Based on the results of hardness tests on fatigue specimens with-and without-bluing, it is deduced that the decrease of the fatigue limit beyond the peak drawing strain in the eutectoid steel wire can partly be attributed to insufficient locking of the high-density dislocations by solute atoms. The effect of relaxation of residual stress during bluing is also briefly discussed.

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