METALS AND MATERIALS International, Vol. 13, No. 4 (2007), pp.

275~283

Cyclic Deformation and Phase Transformation of 6Mo

Superaustenitic Stainless Steel

Shing-Hoa Wang1,*, Chia-Chang Wu1, Chih-Yuan Chen2, Jer-Ren Yang2, Po-Kay Chiu3, and Jason Fang4

1
Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Taiwan Ocean University,
Keelung 20224, Taiwan
2
Institute of Materials Science and Engineering, National Taiwan University,
Taipei 10617, Taiwan
3
Instrument Technology Research Center, National Applied Research Laboratories,
Hsinchu 30076, Taiwan
4
Outo Kumpu Asia Pacific, Hsin Chuang 24250, Taiwan

A fatigue behavior analysis was performed on superaustenitic stainless steel UNS S31254 (Avesta Sheffield
254 SMO), which contains about 6 wt.% molybdenum, to examine the cyclic hardening/softening trend, hys-
teresis loops, the degree of hardening, and fatigue life during cyclic straining in the total strain amplitude
range from 0.2 to 1.5 %. Independent of strain rate, hardening occurs first, followed by softening. The degree
of hardening is dependent on the magnitude of strain amplitude. The cyclic stress-strain curve shows material
softening. The lower slope of the degree of hardening versus the strain amplitude curve at a high strain
rate is attributed to the fast development of dislocation structures and quick saturation. The martensite for-
mation, either in band or sheath form, depending on the strain rate, leads to secondary hardening at the
high strain amplitude of 1.5 %.
Keywords: gsuperaustenitic stainless steel, 254 SMO, UNS S31254, strain-induced martensite

1. INTRODUCTION subjected to repeated plastic deformation, their deformation

The low cycle fatigue (LCF) test is the most important test
in the area of cyclic plastic strain, as it provides information
about both the resistance of the materials to cyclic stress and
cracking resistance against cyclic plastic strain. The low
cycle fatigue and elastic-plastic cyclic behavior of materials
have garnered considerable interest in science and engineer-
ing, because repeated cyclic loading with a high amplitude
of cyclic stress and strain can severely limit the useful life of
many components and installations in a variety of branches
of industry. Thus, practical questions have naturally led to
interest in the laws governing low cycle fatigue fracture. Up
to now, studies on this subject were mainly related to auste-
nitic stainless steels used for breeder reactor containment
shells [1]. It has been ascertained that both the constitutive
material model and the ductility fracture criteria mainly
depend on the following parameters: (i) strain rate, (ii) defor-
mation, (iii) size, (iv) temperature, (v) loading, and (vi) dam-
age accumulated by normal service conditions. In materials
*
Corresponding author: shwang@mail.ntou.edu.tw
resistance changes with loading cycles, showing cycle-
dependent hardening and/or softening. These changes in
deformation behavior are intimately involved in the process
of initiation and accumulation of fatigue damage, and there-
fore are very important in design against fatigue. Generally,
fatigue of materials is characterized by three successive
stages [2]: (i) microstructure changes and accumulation of
crystalline defects due to the irreversibility of the cyclic
deformation mechanism, (ii) micro-crack nucleation and
growth, and (iii) development of a critical crack leading to
rupture. Stage (i) includes the formation of martensite, which
plays a significant role in material behavior and damage
mechanisms. The Coffin-Manson law emphasizes the rele-
vance of cyclic plastic strain for fatigue life evaluation.
Based on analysis performed with the Basquin and Coffin-
Manson equations [3,4], the elastic and plastic strain parts
can be dissociated from the total strain to yield two different
straight lines on a log-log plot. Subsequently, the fundamen-
tal role of cycle plastic strain in fatigue crack initiation and
growth was documented. Through these findings, investiga-
tion of cyclic plasticity, and especially the cyclic stress-strain
response, was initiated.
276 Shing-Hoa Wang et al.
The dislocation structures in fatigue can be divided into
three types, according to the dislocation slip modes [5]. One
type is the wavy dislocation found in copper, nickel, and alu-
minum. In copper, dislocation morphologies that are depen-
dent on strain amplitude have been reported to be loop
patches, vein structures, persistent slip bands (PSBs), dislo-
cation walls, and dislocation cells. In aluminum, cells have
usually been reported in all ranges of plastic strain ampli-
tudes at room temperature. Another type is planar disloca-
tion, which is found in brass and copper-16 % aluminum.
These dislocations remain planar during the fatigue, but the
pitch between slip bands decreases upon increasing the accu-
mulation of plastic strain. The third type is a mix of the first
two types, found in 304, 310, and 316 austenitic stainless
steels. In this type of dislocation structure, dislocations are in
planar annals at the early stages of fatigue and transform into
the wavy type at the later stages of fatigue. In general, these
results have been obtained with a low cycle fatigue test.
The austenitic phase of most AISI 300 series alloys is
metastable, and the martensite transformation can
occur during cooling and/or plastic straining. The 316LN
stainless steel subjected to monotonic stress and cyclic stresses
at low temperature reveals much higher strain-induced '
martensite than steels subjected to stresses at room tempera-
ture [6,7]. Strain-induced martensite can result in a higher
elongation under monotonic loading at 77 K [6]. According
to the chemical composition, as well as the condition of the
deformation rate and/or temperature for austenitic stainless
steel, several transformation mechanisms could take place,
such as , ', ', ' [8]. The volume per-
cent of the phase has a great effect on the mechanical
(strength, strain) and other properties. The LCF life depended
on the amount of martensite present, strain amplitude, grain
size, and whether crack initiation or propagation controlled
fatigue life at a given strain amplitude. The LCF properties
deteriorated on martensite formation, owing to more crack
initiating sites becoming available [3]. With the proper vol-
ume fraction of martensites controlled, a large strain can be
obtained even at a low deformation temperature.
Superaustenitic stainless steel has higher contents of the
alloying chromium and molybdenum than general austenitic
stainless steel, and thus it has high strength, good weldabil-
ity, and great resistance to stress corrosion and pitting. It is
extensively used in power, chemical, petrochemical, and
nuclear industries. Major studies on superaustenitic stainless
steel are related to the study of corrosion and pitting resis-
tance. However, there are very few reports on the fatigue
behavior and deformation microstructures of superaustenitic
stainless steel. Recently, the fatigue behavior of a superaus-
tenitic stainless steel with the composition Fe-25Cr-22Ni-
7.6Mo-3Mn-0.46N (wt.%) has been studied [9]. During
strain cycling, the internal stresses develop similarly to the
total stresses, while the effective stresses decrease with an
increase of the number of cycles for all strain amplitudes and
diminish with increased strain amplitude. A double slope
behavior is observed in Coffin-Manson diagrams. The
fatigue lifetime resembles that of AISI 316, with 0.29 wt.%
nitrogen at high strain amplitudes, but it is shorter at lower
strain amplitudes [9]. In the present study, low cycle fatigue
tests for UNS S31254 (Avesta Sheffield 254 SMO) stainless
steels were carried out at room temperature under strain con-
trol, the purpose being to investigate the fatigue behavior of
cyclic plastic deformation under different strain amplitudes
with different strain rates. In addition, the microstructure
evolution associated with the deformation should be under-
stood.
2. EXPERIMENTAL METHOD
An as-received UNS S31254 (Avesta Sheffield 254 SMO)
sample with a thickness of 5 mm was used. The chemical
composition, as analyzed via a Glow Discharge Spectrome-
ter (LECO GDS-750 QDP), is listed in Table 1. The super-
austenitic stainless steel contains about 18 wt.% Ni, 20 wt.%
Cr, and 6 wt.% Mo, resulting in excellent corrosion resis-
tance. Low cycle fatigue (LCF) tests of these superaustenitic
stainless steels were performed at room temperature using
the MTS 810 machine under total strain control. The strain
waveform was triangular, with zero mean strain at various
1 1 3 1
strain rates controlled to be 1 ? 10 s , 6 ? 10 s , and 6
4 1
10 s . The fatigue tests were continued until fracture, with
the strain amplitude, a ( /2), between 0.2 and 1.5 % with
completely reversed straining at the strain ratio R = 1. The
size of a fatigue specimen was 100 mm long, with a reduc-
tion in dimension of 4 mm (width) ? 12.5 mm (length) ? 5 mm
(thickness), according to ASTM E606. Detailed fatigue test
parameters are shown in Table 2.
Optical metallography was electrolytically etched in a
solution composed of 5 g CuCl2, 100 ml HCl, and 100 ml
ethanol at 9 V etching potential for 10 seconds. The sam-
pling positions of thin foils for transmission electron micros-
copy (TEM) examination were taken from the fatigue failure
region. A sliced specimen was ground down to 0.06 mm by
Table 1. Chemical composition of 254 SMO stainless steel (wt.%)
Element Supplier Avesta Analysis GDS Analysis
Ni 17.86 17.77
Cr 20.01 19.46
Mo 6.18 5.78
C 0.012 0.011
Si 0.31 0.31
Mn 0.47 0.46
P 0.023 0.019
S 0.001 0.003
Fe Bal. Bal.