Fatigue damage of AISI 304 LN stainless steel: Role of mean stress

AbstractThis investigation examines the influence of varied combinations of mean stress (σm) and alternating stress (σa) on strain accumulation during fatigue tests and the resultant in-situ microstructural and substructural variations of AISI 304 LN stainless steel. Stress-controlled fatigue tests have been carried out at 300 K using positive, zero, and negative mean stress conditions, supplemented by microstructural and substructural analyses using TEM and XRD. The results highlight that the characteristics of strain accumulation in the selected steel is governed by the magnitude of σm and σa, apart from considerable dependence on insitu formation of deformation induced martensite and substructural changes