Temperature- and time-dependent behavior of Z2CN18.10 stainless steel under uniaxial loading

Abstract

A series of uniaxial monotonic tensile tests were first conducted on the piping specimens of Z2CN18.10 stainless steel within the temperature range from 20°C to 350°C at different strain rates. The results show an interesting characteristic of the material: it exhibited obvious rate-dependence at room temperature, whereas at 350°C no such significant dependence was observed. Then some tests were performed within the same temperature range to explore the effect of this property on the uniaxial ratcheting behavior of Z2CN18.10 steel. The results reveal that with increasing temperature the ratcheting behavior of the material tended toward shaking-down and became less sensitive to loading rates and peak dwell time. Such temperature-dependent viscoplasticity of the material can presumably be attributed to the dynamic strain aging (DSA) effect, which results in more loss of viscosity of the material as temperature increases.