Stress-Strain Behavior of Inconel 718 During Low Cycle Fatigue

In the development of better methods of assessing damage accumulation, one of the requirements is an understanding of the cyclic constitutive behavior of the material. It is known that the cyclic stress-strain behavior is affected by temperature and possibly Rε ratio (εmin/εmax) and that the properties change as cycles are accumulated. This report presents some results, particularly the development of a mean stress in the material, obtained during low cycle fatigue tests of Inconel 718. The tests varied temperature and Rε ratio to determine their effects on the cyclic constitutive relation. Changes in the cyclic stress-strain behavior as a function of cycles were also examined. It was possible to relate the mean stress to either the total or plastic strain ranges for all temperatures. There was sufficient scatter in the data to prevent an unambiguous interpretation of the effect of Rε ratio on the mean stress, however.