EFFECT OF DYNAMIC STRAIN AGING ON PURE BENDING FATIGUE STRENGTH OF AUSTENITIC STAINLESS STEEL

The effect of various dynamic strain aging(DSA)pre-treatment processes on pure bending fatigue strength of an 18-8 austenitic stainless steel was investigated.The results show that DSA pre-treatment processes increase remarkably the fatigue strength and the strengthening effects increase with increasing pre-strain temperature and pre-strain.The fatigue limit of specimens pre-treated by DSA is 87% higher than that by solution treatment,and 20% high- er than that by cold-working.TEM observations show that the uniform and stable dislocation networks with high density formed after DSA pre-treatment,which suppress effectively the initiation and propugation of fatigue cracks and increase the fatigue strength of materials.