Cyclic deformation behavior of steels and light-metal alloys

The detailed knowledge of the cyclic deformation behavior of metallic materials is an essential condition for the comprehensive understanding of fatigue mechanisms and a reliable lifetime calculation of cyclically loaded specimens and components. Various steels and light-metal alloys were investigated under stress and strain control on servohydraulic testing systems. In addition to mechanical stress–strain hysteresis measurements, the changes of the specimen temperature and the electrical resistance due to plastic deformation processes were measured. The plasticity-induced martensite formation in metastable austenitic steels was detected in situ with a ferritescope sensor. As advanced magnetic measuring technique giant-magneto-resistance sensors in combination with an universal eddy-current equipment were used for the on-line monitoring of fatigue processes. Due to their direct dependence on microstructural changes, all physical values show a clear interaction with the actual fatigue state. The results of the plastic strain, thermometric, electric and magnetic measuring techniques were presented versus the number of cycles as well as in Morrow and Coffin-Manson plots. The microstructures were characterized by scanning electron microscopy.