Ratcheting phenomenon and post-ratcheting tensile behaviour of an aluminum alloy

► Accumulation of ratcheting strain depends on the selection of mean stress and stress amplitude. ► Strain accumulation may either increase or decrease with stress amplitude depending on the pre-history of the material. ► Saturation of strain accumulation occurs around 20 cycles for the investigated alloy under imposed conditions of testing. ► Dislocation density increases with increasing strain accumulation during ratcheting. ► Tensile strength of the investigated Al-alloy increases with stress amplitude during ratcheting.