Interplay of stresses induced by phase transformation and plastic deformation during cyclic load of austenitic stainless steel

Austenitic stainless steel AISI 321 samples subjected to low-cycle fatigue (LCF) were analysed using in situ neutron diffraction stress rig experiments on the ENGIN instrument at the ISIS pulsed neutron facility. The elastoplastic properties of the austenitic matrix and martensitic inclusions as well as the residual stresses of the both phases were studied. The martensite formation is connected with volume dilation. Since the specific volume of martensite is larger (about 2%) than that one of austenite, the martensite phase is generally expected to be in hydrostatic compression, whereas the austenite one is in tension. However, these phase transformation stresses can be superimposed on the deformation stresses caused by the plastic deformation during LCF. The resulting residual stresses have a nonhydrostatic nature. In this study, only deviatoric components of the residual stress tensor were obtained because of the lack of the strain free lattice parameters of both phases. We have established that in the axial direction (along cyclic load) the deviatoric phase stress and the microstress of the austenitic phase were compressive and tensile for the martensite phase, i.e. an overshot of the deformation stress is observed.