Investigation of subsequent viscoplastic deformation of austenitic stainless steel subjected to cyclic preloading

This paper investigates the effects of cyclic preloading on the subsequent viscoplastic deformation. A series of experiments such as the subsequent creep, subsequent stress relaxation, and cyclic loading with strain rate changes after cyclic preloading were conducted with Type 304 stainless steel at room temperature. The cyclic proportional and non-proportional loadings were conducted as cyclic preloadings. Tension-compression loading was chosen as the cyclic proportional loading, and circular and cruciform loading as the cyclic non-proportional loading. The experimental results showed that the subsequent deformation changes with the number of cycles of cyclic preloading. The differences in the subsequent deformation were examined by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The observations suggest that changes in the dislocation structure depending on the number of cycles of cyclic preloading affect the subsequent viscoplastic deformation.