Cyclic deformation and fatigue behaviour of 7Mo–0.5N superaustenitic stainless steel—stress–strain relations and fatigue life

Abstract The cyclic deformation characteristics and fatigue behaviour of a superaustenitic stainless steel with composition Fe–25Cr–22Ni–7.6Mo–3Mn–0.46N (wt%) have been investigated. Detailed studies were performed on cyclic hardening/softening behaviour, hysteresis loops, waveform, fatigue lifetime, and internal as well as effective stresses during cyclic straining in the total strain amplitude range 2.7·10−3–1.0·10−2. Special attention is paid to the role of nitrogen and the interaction between nitrogen and molybdenum. Immediate cyclic softening takes place at small strain amplitudes, whereas hardening occurs during the first few cycles at large strain amplitudes followed by softening. For all strain amplitudes a virtually stationary state develops after about 10% of the lifetime with only a weak decrease of the peak stresses. In the cyclic stress–strain curve the material hardens linearly during multi step testing, whereas single step testing leads to excessive hardening at the largest strain amplitudes. During strain cycling the internal stresses develop like the total stresses, while the effective stresses decrease with increasing number of cycles for all strain amplitudes and also diminish with increased strain amplitude. This behaviour is discussed in terms of developing dislocation structures, studied in an accompanying paper. A double slope behaviour in Coffin–Manson diagrams is observed. The fatigue lifetime resembles that of AISI 316 with 0.29 wt% nitrogen at high strain amplitudes but is shorter at lower strain amplitudes. However, in stress controlled situations the superaustenitic material is superior.