Cyclic deformation of AISI-310 stainless steel—I. Cyclic stress-strain responses

Abstract

Cyclic responses of AISI-310 austenitic stainless steel with coarse grains are investigated in the plastic strain amplitude (ε pl) range 1 × 10 −4–9 × 10 −3. With respect to the cyclic hardening behaviour, three ranges of ε pl may be distinguished. ε pl < 8 × 10 −4: neither cyclic hardening nor cyclic softening is observed; 8 × 10 −4 < ε pl < 6 × 10 −3: a cyclic softening follows a cyclic hardening before the saturation is approached; ε pl > 8 × 10 −3: a cyclic hardening leads directly to saturation. The cyclic stress-strain (CSS) curve exhibits three regimes of strain dependence of saturation stress (σ s): in regime I, σ s increases almost unnoticeably with increasing ε pl; in regime II, σ s increases smoothly with increasing ε pl; in regime III, σ s increases dramatically with increasing ε pl. The three regimes of the CSS curve fall into line with the different ranges of ε pl of different cyclic hardening behaviours.