Acta Metallurgica Sinica (English Letters) ›› 2020, Vol. 33 ›› Issue (6): 799-807.DOI: 10.1007/s40195-020-01020-4

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Fatigue Damage Mechanism of AL6XN Austenitic Stainless Steel at High Temperatures

Yanyan Hong1,2, Penglin Gao1, Hongjia Li1, Changsheng Zhang1, Guangai Sun1()   

  1. 1Key Laboratory of Neutron Physics, Institute of Nuclear Physics and Chemistry, CAEP, Mianyang, 621900, China
    2Key Laboratory for Anisotropy and Texture of Materials, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Northeastern University, Shenyang, 110004, China
  • Received:2019-09-12 Revised:2019-12-05 Online:2020-06-10 Published:2020-06-17
  • Contact: Guangai Sun

Abstract:

By the combination of transmission electron microscope, neutron diffraction and small-angle neutron scattering methods, mechanical fatigue behavior of AL6XN austenitic stainless steel was investigated in the temperature range of 400-600 °C. At 400 °C, in addition to the occurrence of dynamic strain aging, the formation of short-range order was evidenced from the forbidden electron diffraction spot of 1/3 {422} in face-centered cubic (fcc) structure viewed down [111] zone axis, which facilitate the planar slip mode of dislocation and result in the work hardening during the fatigue deformation. The fatigue damage is mainly dominated by the accumulation of planar slip band and the interaction among various slip systems. With increasing temperature, precipitates of chi phase, Laves phase and sigma phase were formed during the fatigue tests at 500 and 600 °C. An increase in precipitation content at 600 °C has also been confirmed by both scanning electron microscope and small-angle neutron scattering analysis. The dislocation pileup originating from the uncoordinated deformation between precipitate and austenitic matrix is an important fatigue damage leading to crack. The continuous cycle softening behavior was also observed on the fatigue curve at 600 °C, which is considered to be caused by dynamic recovery.

Key words: Precipitates, Low-cycle fatigue, Austenitic stainless steel, Small-angle neutron scattering, Planar slip bands