Anisotropy effects on the fatigue behaviour of rolled duplex stainless steels

Duplex stainless steels (DSSs) produced by rolling have a significant anisotropy in mechanical properties. The present research deals with this anisotropy, paying particular attention to fatigue behaviour in the high-cycle fatigue regime. In doing so, the mechanical response of a 5 mm thick rolled plate of EN 1.4462 type duplex steel was characterised. Marked anisotropy effects are observed, with the transverse orientation exhibiting a mechanical response higher than that of the longitudinal one. These experimental findings are rationalised considering the correlation between the crystallographic texture of each phase and their behaviour with respect to crack nucleation and early growth of short cracks.