Influence of feed rate on surface integrity and fatigue performance of machined surfaces

•This paper studies the influence of feed rate on the fatigue performance.•A higher feed rate induces more compressive residual stresses.•A higher feed rate induces a more softened layer.•The feed rate influences fatigue life significantly.•The effect of feed rate increases significantly if the loading is reduced. This study investigates the influence of the feed rate on the surface integrity and fatigue performance of machined surfaces. The results demonstrate that a higher feed rate increases crack initiation life and crack propagation life. A higher feed rate induces more compressive residual stresses and a more softened layer. The feed rate influences crack initiation life up to 45% and crack propagation life up to 149%. Consequently, the feed rate affects fatigue life up to 132%. The fatigue tests substantiate that the feed rate influences fatigue life significantly and that the effect increases significantly if the loading is reduced.