Self-heating of metastable 304L austenitic stainless steel under cyclic loading: Influence of initial martensite volume fraction, testing temperature and pre-strain

Abstract

In this study, special attention is paid to the thermal response of the austenitic stainless steel 304L under cyclic loading tests (i.e., self-heating tests) in different conditions. The cyclic behavior of the 304L austenitic stainless steel can be influenced by martensitic transformation. Hence, the role of martensitic transformation in the self-heating behavior of this material is studied. For this purpose, self-heating tests are performed on pre-strained specimens at a wide range of temperatures from 100 °C to −130 °C, which leads to different initial volume fractions of martensite ranging from 0% to 45%, respectively. Furthermore, the influence of the testing temperature and a pre-strain at room temperature on the self-heating curves is investigated. The results demonstrate that the decrease in the test temperature from room temperature to - 30 °C as well as the increase in the pre-strain values from 0% to 30% at room temperature, result in a shift of the self-heating curves to the right. It could mean that the fatigue limit of the material is improved.