Influence of dynamic strain aging pre-treatment on the low-cycle fatigue behavior of modified 9Cr–1Mo steel

The influence of dynamic strain aging (DSA) pre-treatment on the low-cycle-fatigue (LCF) behavior of modified 9Cr–1Mo steel was investigated at 550 °C. The DSA pre-treatment reduces the fatigue life, which is reflected on the fracture surface as multiple crack initiation. The samples pre-treated by DSA have higher peak tensile stress and positive mean stress effects, which is responsible for the lifetime reduction. The DSA pre-treatment does not change cross-slip mechanisms during mechanical cycling, compared without DSA process, but results in accelerating the microstructure transformation from lath to cells with low dislocation densities, which reduces the number of cycles to failure.

► Dynamic strain aging pre-treatment reduced low-cycle fatigue life of martensitic steel.
► A positive mean stress existed for the samples pre-treated by DSA.
► Macro fracture surface and microstructure evolution was studied.
► The mechanism of fatigue life resulted from DSA pre-treatment was proposed.