A Procedure for Low Cycle Fatigue Life Prediction for Various Temperatures and Strain Rates

This paper describes a procedure that permits the calculation of the fatigue life over a wide range of temperatures and strain rates. The isothermal fatigue life is expressed in terms of the total strain range by an equation previously obtained from a continuous damage concept. Additional new terms are introduced to take into account the effect of the temperature and of the strain rate. For a given material, a multiple regression analysis is carried out using some experimental results in order to evaluate the material constants involved. Once these constants are known, the life prediction can be made for other specified values of temperature and strain rate. The approach is applied to available data obtained from several stainless steels (AISI 304, 316, 348, and some SUS materials) under several combinations of temperatures and strain rates. The deviation of the calculated lives from the experimental values is reasonably acceptable. The extension of the proposed procedure to cases of cycling with a very low frequency, usually involving hold times, is examined and discussed.