Citation

Beardsley AL, Kral MV. J. Fail. Anal. Prev. 2019; 19(6): 1551-1555.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, ASM International, Publisher Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s11668-019-00786-9

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

As part of a steering linkage mechanism in a jet boat, two D-ring shackle pins were safety wired together in order to prevent either of the shackle pins from falling out. Relative movement of the D-ring shackles from maneuvering the boat caused fluctuating stresses in the stainless steel safety wire, resulting in a fatigue fracture of the wire. Without the constraint of the safety wire, a pin from one of the D-ring shackles became dislodged, resulting in the failure of the steering mechanism, loss of control and crash of the boat. As well as a demonstration of the key features of the components that led to the determination of a fatigue fracture, the significant flaws in the installation and configuration of the steering linkage are discussed.

Language: en