Abstract: The evolution of dislocation structures in 6% prestrained steel 1018 during fatigue has been studied by TEM.The dislocations are quite movable,the loose cells quickly change to “checkboard”structures,in which the main cell walls lie about {100}.Then,the low energy dislocation structures i.e.dipolar walls and abyrinth structures are evolved.The characteristic of labyrinth and the orientation of dipolar walls are quite similar to fcc crystal.This indicates the energy state of system and the moving ability of dislocations are important factors affect- ing softening process,rather than the slip geometric characteristic of dislocations and details of dislocations.The decreasing in misorientation between adjoining cells and internal stress are discussed.

Key words: steel 1018, fatigue softening, dislocation configuration