Low cycle fatigue and deformation behaviour of austenitic manganese steel in rolled and in as-cast conditions

This paper presents a characterisation of two austenitic manganese (∼12–13 wt%) rail steels, one in rolled (Mn13(R)) and the other in as-cast (Mn13(C)) condition. Cyclic and monotonic behaviour as well as hardness and microstructure have been investigated. The results do not show any major difference between the materials, but comparison with literature reveals large differences compared to pearlitic and bainitic rail steels. The manganese steels are softer initially and harden during cyclic and monotonic loading.