Effect of prior cold work on the room-temperature low-cycle fatigue behaviour of AISI 304LN stainless steel

Abstract

Room-temperature total strain-controlled low-cycle fatigue tests were carried out on AISI 304LN austenitic stainless steel specimens that were cold worked by swaging to different levels (10, 20 and 30% reduction in area) prior to testing. Cyclic softening was mostly noticed. A crossover in the total strain-life plots for the material with different degrees of prior cold work is explained in terms of the differences in strength and ductility. Prior cold work increased the total strain fatigue resistance at total strain amplitudes less than about 0.50%. A reduction in the transition fatigue life with an increase in the percentage of prior cold work was observed. Masing behavior was observed only in the 30% prior cold worked material.