Uniaxial ratcheting of SS304 stainless steel at high temperatures: visco-plastic constitutive model

The uniaxial ratcheting of SS304 stainless steel at high temperatures (300, 600 and 700 °C) were analyzed experimentally, and described by a cyclic constitutive visco-plasticity model. The rate dependence of the material was accounted for by introducing a viscous term. The cyclic hardening and cyclic flow behavior of the material under asymmetrical stress-controlled cycling were described by the evolution rules of kinematic hardening back stress and isotropic deforming resistance. Under the isothermal condition, temperature effect was included by terms involving temperature in the evolution equations of isotropic deforming resistance. The effect of load history on ratcheting was also considered by introducing a fading memory function of the maximum inelastic strain amplitude and isotropic deformation resistance. After the material constants were determined from the experimental data, the uniaxial ratcheting of SS304 stainless steel was numerically simulated and compared with the corresponding experimental results at high temperatures. The predicted results agree well with the experimental ones.