To find out the reason of fracture, specimens were made from the fractured winding shaft and the mechanical properties as well as their microstructures were investigated. Several heat treatments. including caburizing and tempering were carried out to improve the microstructure, mechanical properties, fatigue crack propagation and rotating bending fatigue characteristics. Through these experiments, following conclusions were obtained. (1) Carburized and tempered specimens showed greatly improved mechanical properties including impact energy, hardness and strength. (2) The fatigue strength of the carburized and tempered specimens increased more than twice than that of the original fractured winding shaft. (3) Crack propagation of the carburized and tempered specimens were faster than that of the original fractured speciens under the same △K. However, it is believed that, in the early stage, the fatigue crack initiation and growth for the carburized and tempered specimen is more difficult.