The effect of temperature on low-cycle fatigue behavior of prior cold worked 316L stainless steel

Abstract

Low-cycle fatigue tests on cold worked 316L stainless steel were carried out at various temperatures from room temperature to 650 degreesC and tensile tests were conducted on the cold worked and solution-treated materials. At all test temperatures, the cold worked material showed the tendency of higher strength and lower ductility. Following initial cyclic hardening for a few cycles, cyclic softening behavior was observed to dominate until failure occurred during low-cycle fatigue deformation. The softening behavior strongly depends on temperature and strain amplitude. Several life prediction models were examined and it was found that it is important to select a proper life prediction parameter since stress and strain depend strongly on temperature. A phenomenological fatigue life prediction model is proposed to account for the influence of temperature on life. The model is correlated with the experimental results. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.