Influence of Cyclic Deformation Induced Phase Transformation on the Fatigue Behavior of the Austenitic Steel X6CrNiNb1810

Abstract

The austenitic steel X6CrNiNb1810 (AISI 347) was investigated in isothermal total strain-controlled tests at ambient temperature and T = 300 °C in the LCF-and HCF-range. The phase transformation from paramagnetic austenite (fcc) into ferromagnetic α´-martensite ́(bcc) leads to cyclic hardening and to an increase in fatigue life. At 300 °C no α´-martensite formation was observed in the LCF-range and the cyclic deformation behavior depends basically on cyclic hardening processes due to an increase of the dislocation density, followed by cyclic saturation and softening due to changes in the dislocation structure. In the HCF-range an increase in fatigue life was observed due to ε- and α´-martensite formation. Measurements of the mechanical stress-strain-hysteresis as well as temperature and magnetic properties enable a characterization of the cyclic deformation behavior and phase transformation in detail. The changes in the physical data were interpreted via microstructural changes observed by scanning-and transmission-electron-microscopy as well as by x-ray investigations. Additionally electromagnetic acoustic transducers (EMATs) developed from the Fraunhofer Institute of Non-destructive Testing (IZFP) Saarbrücken were used for an in-situ characterization of the fatigue processes.