Load path sensitivity and fatigue life estimation of 30CrNiMo8HH

A set of strain-controlled biaxial proportional and non-proportional tests were conducted on solid and tubular specimens of 30CrNiMo8HH steel. The effect of the phase angle on fatigue life was studied. This effect becomes noticeable when applying a 90° out-of-phase loading, reducing the fatigue life by a factor up to 5. It has been shown that the material has no additional hardening due to out-of-phase loading. To account for this severe path dependency, a material dependent non-proportionality modification factor is proposed. This path dependent sensitivity factor is applied to six different fatigue parameters including maximum equivalent total strain, maximum equivalent stress, Smith–Watson–Topper, Fatemi–Socie, plastic strain energy density and total strain energy density to correlate the fatigue results. The predicted fatigue lives are compared with the experiments. The cyclic plasticity models of Mroz and Chaboche were successfully employed to model the cyclic behavior of 30CrNiMo8HH steel. It has been shown that estimations based on the proposed non-proportionality modification factor agree well with the experimental results.

► New experimental results for multiaxial behavior of 30CrNiMo8HH steel.
► Life reduction of up to five times due to the non-proportionality of load.
► A novel material dependent nonproportionality factor is proposed.
► Life predictions based on the novel factor falls into a 2x scatter band of the experimental life.