Analysis of biaxial-fatigue damage at elevated temperatures

Two-level cumulative-damage fatigue tests were conducted on tubular 304 stainless-steel specimen under biaxial-strain conditions at elevated temperatures. Effects of temperature, biaxiality and sequence of straining were investigated. The experimental results are forwarted with a new approach that utilizes the Miner cumulative-damage rule. This approach has shown that fatigue damage at elevated temperatures of 538°C (1000°F) and 649°C (1200°F) accelerates and decelerates as a result of time of exposure to a given loading sequence. The effect of biaxiality is shown through the behavior of the material under axial and shear-strain components. The axial (tensile) strain component has shown to be the severest detrimental damaging component when compared to a shear-strain component. A damage mechanism emerges from the interaction of temperature and loading sequence. Its significance can be observed only when a certain life ratio has been exhausted.