On the comparative assessment of ratcheting-induced dislocation density in 42CrMo4 steel by X-ray diffraction profile analysis and hardness measurement

The phenomenon of ratcheting occurs under the influence of non-zero mean stress during cyclic loading; it singificantly reduces the low cycle fatigue life of engineering structures. The present investigation deals with a detailed comparison on the estimation of dislocation densities in the 42CrMo4 steel induced by ratcheting using two different methods, i.e. X-ray diffraction (XRD) profile analysis and hardness. The dislocation densities in the ratcheted specimens were assessed using XRD profile analysis following the modified Williamson–Hall method as well as hardness measurements following the modified Nix and Gao model. The results showed that dislocation density increased in the ratcheted specimens as compared to the unratcheted ones and increase in accumulation of ratcheting strain was correlated with the increase in dislocation densities in the ratcheted specimens. It was established that both hardness and X-ray diffraction profile analysis methods can very effectively be used to assess the dislocation densities in the ratcheted specimens.