Experimental investigations of internal and effective stresses during fatigue loading of high-strength steel

Low cycle fatigue tests are performed on a high strength tempered martensitic steel at different plastic strain amplitudes at room temperature. Internal and effective components of the flow stress are analyzed using Handfield and Dickson's method. The internal stress is affected by the plastic strain amplitude. Conversely, the evolution of the athermal component of the effective stress with the number of cycles is independent of the plastic strain amplitude. The thermal part of the effective stress increases with the plastic strain amplitude, but remains constant with plastic strain accumulation. Microstructural changes in the cyclically deformed material are investigated by means of TEM and X-Ray characterizations. Internal and effective stress evolutions are discussed based on these observations.