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High-temperature
mechanical and fatigue properties have been investigated for 17-4
PH stainless steel in three different conditions, namely, unaged (Condition
A), peak-aged (H900) and overaged (H1150) conditions. The high-temperature
yield strength of each condition was decreased with an increase in
temperature from 200 to 500oC except for Condition A tested at 400oC
with a longer hold-time where strengths were superior to the lower
temperature ones due to a precipitation-hardening effect. Given an
aged alloy at a temperature higher than the initial age-treatment
temperature, the hardness value was decreased with an increase in
exposure time as a result of a coarsening effect of copper-rich precipitates.
The yield strength and high-cycle fatigue (HCF) strength for the three
given conditions at a given temperature took the following order:
H900 > Condition A > H1150. S-N curves showed that the HCF strengths
of each material condition were decreased with increasing temperature
as a result of a reduction in yield strength, except for Condition
A at 400oC as well as for H900 under 20 Hz at 300oC in the long life
regime. The fatigue strengths of Condition A at tested 400oC were
greater than those at lower temperatures as a result of an in-situ
precipitation-hardening effect. The fatigue strengths of Condition
H900 in long life regime at 300oC were superior to those at lower
temperatures due to the mechanisms of surface oxidation and thermal
activation of dislocations.
As for the frequency effect (2 and 20 Hz) on HCF, S-N results indicated
that at 300 and 400oC, there was generally no difference in fatigue
strength between 2 and 20 Hz, except for H900 tested at 400oC where
the fatigue strength at 2 Hz was lower than that at 20 Hz. At 500oC,
the fatigue strength of each condition at 2 Hz was lower than that
at 20 Hz due to occurrence of a creep mechanism at this low frequency.
At 500oC and 2 Hz, the HCF fracture mode exhibited a mixed mode of
transgranular and intergranular cracking and grain boundary cavities
were also observed. Fractography observations indicated that the crack
initiation site, crack propagation path and fracture surface morphology
in HCF were functions of testing temperature, loading frequency and
applied cyclic stress level.
The cyclic stress response (CSR) in low-cycle fatigue (LCF) for Condition
A tested at 300 and 400oC showed markedly cyclic hardening due to
an influence of dynamic strain aging (DSA). An in-situ precipitation
hardening effect was also found to be partially responsible for the
cyclic hardening in Condition A at 400oC. For H900 and H1150 conditions
tested at 300 and 400oC, the CSR exhibited a stable stress level before
a fast load drop indicating no cyclic hardening or softening. At 500oC,
cyclic softening was observed for all given material conditions because
of a thermal dislocation recovery mechanism. The cyclic softening
behavior in Conditions A and H900 tested at 500oC was also attributed
partially to the coarsening of Cu-rich precipitates. The LCF life
in cycles for each material condition tested at a given temperature
was decreased with decreasing strain rate as a result of an enhanced
DSA effect. At all given LCF testing conditions, transgranular cracking
was the dominant fracture mode.
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