Comparative studies on near-threshold fatigue crack propagation behavior of high manganese steels at room and cryogenic temperatures

• The FCP rates of high manganese steels were measured at 298, 173 and 113 K.
• The FCP rates decreased with decreasing temperature.
• The FCP behavior showed a strong correlation with the stacking fault energy.

The near-threshold fatigue crack propagation behavior of high manganese steels, including 24Mn4Cr, 22Mn3Cr, 20Mn, 18Mn and 12Mn steels, were examined at 298, 173 and 113 K, and the results were compared to those of widely used cryogenic alloys, including STS304, 9% Ni and 5% Ni steels. The near-threshold FCP behavior of high manganese steels was in general excellent at both room and cryogenic temperatures as compared to the reference cryogenic steels. The near-threshold ∆K values tended to be inversely proportional to the stacking fault energy values of high manganese steels. The fractographic analysis suggested that the SFE mostly affected the slip reversibility of high manganese steels in near-threshold ∆K regime.