LOW CYCLE FATIGUE

On the Cyclic Behaviour of Fusion

Reactor Ferritic-Martensitic Steels
at Intermediate Temperatures'
Martina Avalos, Iris Alvarez
Armas, Alberto F. Armas
and Claus Petersen, Rosario,
Argentina

The low cycle fati gu e respon se of EUROFER 97 has been investi

ga ted at different tot al plasti c strain ra nges and temperatures be
tw een 20 -450 "C. The cycli c beh aviour has been ana lyze d through
th e decomposition of the flow s tres s in ba ck stress a nd fr ict ion
stress , and different mi cro structural mechanisms associate d with
cyclic softe ning were propos ed to ex plain the differ en ces observed
in those stress components . At 20 "C, th e cycli c softe ning could be
attributed to a progressively unp inning of dis locations from car bon
atom s . At hi gh er temperatures, th e mechani cal softe ning effects
agree with th e evolution from in itially very fin e marten sitic lath s
to a coarse r equiax ial ce lls s tructure . A decr ease of di s location
de nsity in side the micrograins is observed for all th e temperatures,
to a high er degree for higher temperatures .

The in cr easin g dem and for ene rgy , ex

pect ed for the next years, has pu sh ed th e
int ernati onal or gani zations to cons ider
differ ent alterna tives to cover th e future
necess ities of energy with out env iro n
mental dam age . The nu clear energy is a
reli able alternative since large amou nts
of ene rgy ca n be produ ced wit ho ut th e
ad verse environmental effec t th at fol
lows th e use of coal or petrol eu m.
Altho ugh ren ewable ene rgy sourc es
offer s im ilar possibiliti es th an nuclear
ene rgy, th e econo my efficie ncy is ver y
mu ch releva nt with resp ect to th e latt er
tech nology for pow er generation. In th e
last ye ar s, int ernat ion al orga niza tions
have been coordinating th e developm ent
of a new ge ne ra tion of react or s th at will
produce reli ab le and in exp en siv e en
ergy in a saf e and environmenta l friendly
way. The ope ra t ion condit ions in thi s
new-con cept fusion reactors a re often
quite demanding and so metimes th e ele
vat ed temperatures combined with high

doses of irr adi atio n pose new cha lle nges

to th e techn ology.
In th e mid eighties , a new conce pt was
introduced into th e internati on al fusion
pro gr am , i. e . the low activa tion mat eri
als . The objec ti ve was developing mate
rials th at wou ld eithe r not be ac tivate d
wh en irrad iated by neutron s or , if bei ng
activa ted , devel op low ra dioactivity lev
els th at wou ld decay qui ck ly, improvin g
th e safety of the fusion react or operatio n
as well as hands-on mainten an ce. In
fact , th ese a re not low ac tiva tion mate ri
als, becau se th e stee ls are limited by th e
decay of th e radi oacti ve pro duct from
tr an sm utati on of th e iron atom s .
Redu ced-acti vation mat eri al s were
con side re d pos sible, and th e int ern a
tion al fusion materials research pr o
gra ms develop ed th e redu ced -act ivati on
fer rit ic-martens itic (RAFM) mat er ials .
For th ese alloys, the radi ati on activity
decays in a relativ ely short ti me . Based
on nu clear ca lcu lations th e typi cal alloy
in g ele me nts Mo, Nb, Ni, Cu, and N need
to be eliminated or min imized. In com
pari son to the conventiona l Cr Mo ste els,
th e developm ent of RAFM steels in-

* This contribution has a lrea dy been publis he d

in the Proceedings of the Intern ational Con

ference on Low Cycle Fatigue (LCF 6).

volved the rep lace ment of molybd enum

by tun gst en and/ or va nadiu m, a nd th e
rep lacem ent of ni obium by tanta lum [1].
Steels with 7-9 % Cr were pr eferred
over th e 12 % Cr stee ls, du e to th e di ffi
cu lty in avo idi ng th e d-ferrite form ation
in 12 % Cr stee ls witho ut in cr easin g th e
ca rbon or man gan ese content to sta bi
lize th e aus te nitic ph ase . In particu lar,
th e Jap an ese pr ogram se tt led on th e
stee l F82H, and EUROFER, wer e th e ini
tial poin ts for the development of th e fu
sion mat eri al pro gr am in Europe. Exte n
sive studies of th e fatigue beh aviour of
high chromiu m marten siti c stee ls have
bee n conduc te d at differ ent mech ani ca l,
therma l and environme ntal cond itions
for mat eri al dat a ge ne ra tio n.
Cyc lic stra in pro cesses ca n lead to mi
cros tru ctura l changes caus ing cyc lic
harden ing and/ or soft en in g of th e mat e
rial. In th e normalized and tempered
condition, th e marten s iti c stee ls are
pron e to cyclic softe ning , which is a sys
tematic reduct ion of th e stress level pr o
du ced by furth er str ain ing of ma terial.
In RAFM stee ls , lik e EUROFER 97 and
F82H , th e author s repo rted a reduc tion

LOW CYCLE FATIGUE

EURO FER 97

Cr

l\'i

Mo

Nb

Si

Mn

Ta

0.12

8.93

0.022

0.0015

0.2

0.0001

0.06

0.47

0.14

< 0.001

1.07

0.018

Table 1. Chemical composition of the f erritic mar tensitic steel

of about 20 percent afte r 10 fati gu e cy

cles [2].
Thi s effect is re late d to the micr ostruc
tura l chara cte ris tics of th e mat eri al, and
becam e a s ign ifica nt e ngineering pr ob
le m . While th e occurren ce of cyclic soft
e ning in normali zed a nd tempered 9 to
12% Cr s teel has been well do cumented ,
the origin of th e effec t a nd th e kin eti cs of
dislocati on s in th e softe ning beh aviou r
ar e not we ll understood .
In thi s resp ect , tw o param eters have
been widely recogni zed as of ce ntral sig
nifi can ce For und erst andin g th e disl oca
tion beh aviour of Fatigu e in met al s .
These a re the fri ction s tre ss , G rrie , a nd
th e back s tress, G hack ' In terms of Cot
tr ell 's sc he me [3], reformul at ed by Dick
so n et al. [4 ], th e hyst e resi s loops pr o
vide qu alitati ve inform ati on about th e
s tress com pone nts. In thi s me thod, G rrie
and G haek are esti mat ed as a fun ct ion of
th e pea k s tre ss amp litude a nd th e cyclic
yield s tress [5], [6]. The back s tre ss ,
G hack ' a rise s main ly from elas tic inte rac
tion of di slo cati on s a nd is usu all y re
lated to th e dis location den sity whil e th e
frict ion st ress, G rrie , is th e s tre ss neces
sa ry to dri ve disl ocati on s ove r th erm all y
activated obstacles.

Materials and

Experimental Procedure

The mat eria l used in th is s tudy was th e

Euro pea n EUROF ER 97 s teel. The che m
ica l com position of th e mat eri al is give n
in Tab le 1. The deta ils a bout the th er mal
treatm ent ar e s hown in Tab le 2.
Cylind rica l s pecime n For LCF ex pe ri
ments wit h a ga ge len gth of 21 mm a nd
diam et er of 8.8 mm were mach in ed a nd
test ed in th e as-receive d form . The low
cycle fati gu e test s were performed on a n
INSTRON electro mecha n ical testing ma
chine u nde r plast ic s train co ntrol using
a fully reversed tri an gul ar sig na l. The
s pecime ns were test ed in air at th e tem
perature range betw een 20 an d 4 50 C.
The total s tra in rate of th e test s was
maintain ed at : = 2 10-3 S- I. Test s were
ca r ried out at different temperatures
wit h a plasti c strain ran ge of ~ p = 0.2 %
a nd at 20C with plasti c strain ran ges of
~p = 0.2 %, 0.4 % a nd 0.6 %.

A dat a ac qu is ition sy ste m including a

personal com pute r a nd AI D co nve rte r
was used to record th e st rain an d st ress
values of th e hyst eresi s loops . The con
trol of th e machin e a nd dat a acq u is ition
was perfo rm ed wit h a com pute r pro
g ra m elabora ted in the laboratory. More
tha n th ree hu nd red point s per cyc le
were ta ken , from whi ch one hundred
cor re s pond to th e unl oadin g pa rt of the
hyst eresi s loop th at run s From th e maxi
mum s tra in up to ze ro s trai n .
A comp ute r pr ogram using a linea r re
gres sion meth od fit th e elasti c porti on of
this part of the loop. Despite the co ns id
e ra ble num ber of poin ts per cyc le a nd
the used microp lasti cit y cr ite rion to de
termine the flow stres s, G y ' at wh ich th e

were pr ep ar ed using th e doub le jet

polishing techniqu e with a n elec troly
te composed of 90 vol.-% e tha no l a nd
10 vol.-% perchl oric acid.

Results and Discussion

Influence of Te m peratu re. Figur e 1
s hows th e representative low cycle fa
tigu e beh aviou r of sa mples test ed at
20 C, 200 C, 400 C, a nd 4 50 C For ~ p =
0.2 %. All th ese curves s ho w a simila r
trend, th at is a noti ceabl e cyc lic so fte n
ing up to Fa ilu re . Thi s softe ning is cha r
ac te ris tic for marten siti c ste els, a nd was
previou sl y rep orted by th e a utho rs in
RAFM mat eri als during cycling a t tot al
s train ran ges of 0.5 % to 1.5 % [2J.

Type

Austen ization

Tempering

EUROH R 97

31 min at 980 C, air cooled

90 min at 760 C, air cooled

Table 2. Thermal treatm en t of the examined mat erials

reverse plasti ci ty sta rts , th e acc uracy of

the measu rem ent cou ld not be bette r
tha n 5 %.
Specim ens were exa mine d by tr an s
mission elec tron mi cro scop y (TEM) us
ing a Philips CM 200 UT micr oscop e
op erat in g a t 200 kV. Tra nsv e rsa l dis ks
were elec trolytically poli sh ed and fin all y
thinn ed for th e electro n micr oscop y ob
serv ations . Thin foils of 3 mm diam et er

Acco rding to the lite ratu re [7], a de

com pos it ion of th e a pp lied s tress in the
back and th e fri ct ion s tre sses s hows th at
a la rge pa rt of th e cyclic so fte ning re
ported in ma rt en siti c st ee ls is du e to a
cycl ic decr ease of th e back s tress . To in
ves tiga te th e softe ning beh a vior a nd th e
deformation mech anism asso ciat ed with
soften ing, th e back and th e fr iction
s tre sses have been exa mine d .

550 ..,---- - - - - - - - - - - ----,

.a-
CIl

500

Q..

__

EUROFER 97
\ c p = 0,2%

~ 450

as

"0

~ 400
a.

Figure 1. Evolution
of the stress amplitude
with the number of
cycles of EUROFER 91
at different temp era
tures

350

en
en

~ 300

U5

~ ::; -

250

..

20C
200C
400C
450C

Number of Cycles, N

~p

MP

LOW CYCLE FATIGUE

400

- . - 0fn 20C
- "'- 0fn 2000C
-e -- otTl400C
- <l- 0 .4500C
In

350

"'
:i:

Q.

300

cU

"C
::J

:!::

400

-[ - q "cI<20C
,- c- 0l:eck200C
0l:eck400C

- l:eck450C

til
til

(I)

cU

300

:!::

2000C
- e - 0Int 4000C

- <l - 0
4500C
Int
'1,nt

E
<t

150

"

20C

::::6':....

" cec 200C

(1
400C
ccc
4500C
cec

"

250

Q.
200

til
til

(I)

"

en

350

o mt 20C

"C
::J

250

Q.

E
<t

"'
:i:
Q.

...

"

en

100

150

50

100
0

2000

6000

4000

10<XXl

8000

12000

Number of Cycles

a)

500

1000

1500

2000

Number of Cycles

b)

Figure 2. a) Evolution of the backstress and friction stress with the number of cycles at different temperatures, b) detail of the first 20{){) cycles in
the evolution of the back and friction stresses presented in Figure 2a

It is int erest ing to note the depen

dence of the back and friction stress
components of the saturation stress with
temperature. The friction stress at the
saturation stage dimini shes about 45 %,
with stress values from 270 MPa at

Figur e 2a shows the evolution of this

component durin g cycling at 0.2 % for
temperatures ranging from 20C to
450C. Figur e 2b shows a detail of the
first 2000 cycles in the evolution of the
back and friction stresses presented in 2a.

e.c

40

OJ 38
c 36

,S
0

34

Ql

32

(/)

en
ell

Figure 3. Cyclic softening

parameter; 8, as a function
of the temperature

C
(I)

30

<..1

28

a.

26

Qj

.,

(I)

0::

....... -.r

...

,2: 24
Qi

... .

8 = [(amax -asat)!a max]x100

(I)

;t::

,,

"

22

20
0

30
(,Q

cii

c:
c:

o= [(0

xmax

Figure 4. Cyclic soften

ing parameter of back
and friction stress,
8, as a fun ction of the
temperature

:J

D - ......- - _.. _ -

"'

"

(I)

Q.

backstress
/
effective stress

20

(I)
0)

c:
(I)
u

500

4::
til

400

- 0xsa1)/0max] x100

25

(I)

300
200
Te rrperature C

100

_ .. .. ....-......... ... ..... .. ....

' 0,

15

/~/

____~//-/ ./ ."..''Z.\

10

(I)

>

:;:;

"'

Qj

c:::

20 C to 150 MPa at 450 C. In contras t,

the back stress decreases by 25 %, from
150 MPa at 20 C to 110 l\l Pa at 450 C.
Concerning the cyclic softening, at
450 C the most pronoun ced evolution is
observed on the back stress. At 200 C
and 400 C, the evolution of the hack
stress and the frictions stress is similar.
Finally, at 20 C the more pronounced
evolution is observed on the friction
stres s and the back stress is rather con
stant during the test. This res ult con
firms the fact that at interm ediate tem
peratures a large part of the cyclic soft
ening takes place due to the decrease of
the back stress. However, these observa
tions also show that at 20 C the soften
ing is mainly associated with friction
stress . The analysis of these curves indi
cates that the microst ructural mecha
nism ass ociated with softening is
strongly influenced bv the temperature.
In order to quantif\ the softening vari
ation with an increase of the tempera
tur e, the relative percentage softening 8
[5], defined as

100

200

300

Temperature C

400

500

is represented in Figure 3. In this equa

tion, a ma \ denotes the maximum, and a Sa !
the saturation stress amplitude reached
in each test. resper nv- l v. II is clear that
the relative r vr lir " ,'!tt'ning increases
from lower value- "t 20 'C to higher
values at 450 ' C P ',c analvsis of this
curve also indir ates , [-,,11 the softening
is stron glv tnrl uenc- .t i ,\ ' the tempera
tur e.
To provide a more "H ailed analysis of
the influence IA e,; c[-. "tress component

LOW CYC LE FATIGUE

1 urn
a)

c)

b)

d)

Figure 5. Microstructure of the EUROFER 97, a) in the as received condition, b) cycled at 20C, c) cycled at 400 C, d) cycled at 450 C respective

to th e softe ning at different tempera

tures, th e re lative percentage softe n ing
paramet er was al so ca lculate d for th e
ba ck a nd th e fri ction s tresses in Fig
ur e 4. In th e eq ua tion give n in thi s Fig
ure, th e x s hou ld be int erpret ed alt er
natel y as friction or back s t ress .
It is e vide nt from Figure 4 , th at th e
contribution of eac h flow s tress com po
nents to the rel ative softe n ing cha nges
with temperature. At 400C and 450 "C,
th e relati ve percentage of softe ning indi
cates th at th e main contributio n to th e
softening is rel at ed to th e back s tress
compon ent. From 20C to 200 C, the
main contribution to th e softe ni ng is re
lat ed to th e effec tive s tress . Since th e be
havior of the st ress co m pone nts a llows
to relat e th e softe ning to th e micro struc
ture e volution, thi s resul t s ugges ts a
cha nge in th e mech anism of th e mi cr o
structure evolution .
The cyc lic softe ning is con sidered to
be ca used by th e rearrangem ent of th e
initial high dislo cation den sity s truc ture
to a dislo cation ce ll s tr uc ture . Mor eover ,
high er temperatures will assi st this re
arran gem ent more ea sily. TEM obs er
vations performed in thi s work a re con
sistent with th e results rep ort ed in th e
lit er ature. Figure 5a shows th e mi cro
s truc tu re of th e mat erial in the as
received condit ion a nd th e Figures 5b,
5c, and 5d s how the e volut ion of th e
micro structure of EUROFE R 97 cyc led
at 20 C, 400C, a nd 450C, resp ectivel y.
The micro gr aphs confir m th at cy cling
induces at least two visibl e microstruc
tural evolu tions in th e samples . Firstly,
th e la th a nd s ub-g ra in s truc tu re vanish

during cycli ng whi le th e disl ocati on

den sity decr eases . The di slo cati on den
s ity observed at 20C is hi gh er th an the
dislo cation den sity observed at 4 50C.
At thi s temperature th e di slo cat ion in
si de th e g rains has ju st dis app eared.
Secondl y, pr ecipitates located alon g th e
prior lath a nd s ub-gra in boundari es ca n
be observed at 400 "C a nd 450 C (indi
ca te d by arrows) . There is no doubt that
cy cling diminish es th e di slo cati on den
s ity in s ide th e micro gr ains in sa m ples
test ed for all temperatures . However it is
clea r th at th e temperature has a n essen
tial rol e in th e s truc tu re dev elopm ent at
high er temperatures as it is evide nt at
4 50C.
In fluence of Strain Amplitude at
20C. Figure 6 pr es ents the evolution of
th e s tress a m plitude for th e tot al plas
tic strain ran ge of L'> p = 0. 2 %, L'> p = 0.4 %
a nd L'> p = 0.6 %, test ed at 20 C.

The curves show simil ar tendencies,

th at is, a tran sition al s tage cor res pond
in g to th e fir st part of th e fati gu e life fol
lowed by a linea r sec ond stage th at is
almos t coinci de nt for th e thre e curves.
The fir st stage dep ends on th e tota l plas
tic strain ran ge. The lin ear s tage see ms
to be indep endent of th e tot al plastic
s tra in ran ge of th e test. As ca n be see n in
Figure 6, th e lin ear so fte n ing s tage
see ms to be gove rned by a mech ani sm
inde pe nde nt of the plasti c strain range
imposed to th e sa m ple.
The exa mina tion of th e back a nd th e
fri ction stress has been perform ed at
20C and different plasti c total strain
ran ges . Fig ure 7 s hows th e evolution of
thi s com pone nt during cyc ling at 0.2 %,
0.4 % and 0.6 %.
The fri ction s tress is almost th e sam e
for differ ent amplitudes. On th e othe r
hand, th e back stress cha nge s with

EUROFER 97
Plastic Strain Control Tests
20 C

600
CIl

0..

:2:
ai

Figure 6. Evolution of
the stress amplitude
with the number of
cyclesof EUROFER 97
at different tempera
tures

""0
.@ 500

a.
E

(JJ

(JJ

Ql
400
....

U5

- . - t:.E p
- 0 - t:.E p
-

.0. t:.E

=0.2 %
=0.4 %
=0.6 %

300
10
100
1000
Numbe r of Cycles , N

10000

LOW CYCLE FATIGUE

400

III

- . - ( ~ ,, 0 , 6%

-.

350

a.

0;,,0,4%
( ~,,0 ,2%

:E
ai

back0,6%
. I
0back0,4%
- 0 - u oack 0,2%

---

300

"'C
::::l

Figure 7. Evolution
of the back stress and
fr iction str ess with the
number of cycles at
different temp eratures

c..
E

250

I/)
I/)
Q)

...

200

(/)

150

'0
a

Ii
a

100

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000

The cyc lic sof te n ing ex hibite d by EURO

FER 97 durin g LCF test perform ed at
te mperatures betw een 20 C and 4 50 C
is evaluated th rough th e back and th e
friction stress evo lution. At room tem
pe ra tu re, th e cyc lic softe ning cou ld be
explaining by the pr ogressive un pin
ni ng of di s locati on s fro m th e ca rbon
atoms di ssolved in th e matri x. At high er
temperatu re, th e me chan is m of softe n
ing is connec te d with th e evolut ion of
micros tructu re .

12000

Number of Cycles

strain a mplitude . At 0.6 %, the soften ing

be hav ior is mai nl y asso ciate d with the
back str ess . At 0.2 % a nd 0.4 %, th e back
stress compo ne nts of th e sa turat ion
s tr esses are s imilar. Neve rt he less, th e
evolution with th e nu mber of cyc les is
differ en t. At 0.4 %, the back stress di
mi nis hes with th e nu mb er of cyc les . At
0.2 %, th e ba ck stress remai ns consta nt,
and th e soften ing be havior is mainl y as
soc iate d with th e cyc lic softe ning of t he
fr iction st ress compo nent.
The a na lysis of these curves indica tes
tha t th e micr ostructu ral mechani sm as
soc iate d with softe ning is stro ng ly influ
enced by th e st ra in am plitude .
The differ en ces in th e res pon se of
st ress compone nts at differe nt te mpe ra
tures cou ld be rati onali zed cons ide r ing
the role of th e ca rbo n ato ms di ssol ved in
so lid so lution in the marte ns itic st ruc
ture. The mat eri al EUROFER 97 in th e
as-recei ved condit ion is a fu lly marten
s itic stee l with ca r bide precipitations
produced by th e th erm al treatm ent. In
additio n, th e tempering produces a re
di stribution of ca rbon atoms th at mi
grate to disl ocations [8].
At room temperatu re and lower strain
amp litude, th e pro gr essi ve un pi nnin g of
di slocati on s from so lid so lutio n atoms ,
a nd a s low reorganization of th e mi
cr ostruc ture cou ld be th e res po ns ib le for
th e cyc lic softe n ing The pron oun ced de
creas e of th e fri cti on stress and th e
slight dec rease of the bac k stress ob
served at th is temperature and lower
s tra in a mp litu de could be rat ionali zed
by th is mechanism. High er stra in am
plitudes at 20C influen ce th e re orga ni
za tion of the microstructure .
At 400 C and 450 C, th e mobility of
ca rbo n atoms is hi gh er and th e com

Conclusions

bi ned effect of temperature and cycl ing

produ ces an increase in s ize and amount
of carbides mainl y found along pri or lath
int erfaces . The carbides, indicate d by
a rro ws in th e micrograph s of the Fig
u res 5c a nd 5d, a re an ev ide nce of th is
evo lution. The reorgani zation and ann i
hilation of dis locat ion s th at evolve to a
micros truc tu re of cells an d sub-gra ins
is a lso ev ide nt in th e Figu res 5c and 5d.
This mech ani sm could ex pla in th e pro
noun ced decrease of the back stre ss ob
served at th is tem perature .

References
1 R. L. Klue h, A. T. elso n: Ferrule/ ma rte n
sitic stee ls for the nex t ge ne ratio n reactors ,
J. Nucl. Mal. 371 (2007 ). pp . 37-52
2 A. F. Armas , C. Pete rsen . R. Schmit, M. Ava
los, I. A lva rez-Ar mas: Cvrl ir instability of
ma rten sit e lath s in redu ced activation
fer ritlc / rna rte ns iric steels. J. \u cl. Mal. 329
(2004), pp. 252 -2 56
3 A. H. Cottre ll: Dislocati ons a nd Plas tic Flow
in Crystals, Oxford L' nil e rsitl Press (1953)
4 J. Dickso n, J. Bouti n. L. Ila ndfield: .-\ com
pari son of two simple met hod s 1'0 1' mea sur
ing cyclic in tern al a nd etteruve stres ses,
Mater. Sci. Eng ng. 64 11 084 1. pp. 7- 11
5 1. Alvarez-Armas , A. F. .-\ rmas. S. Her efui,
5. Degall aix, G. Degallaix: On the cvclic soft
e ning behaviour of 5,\ 1' 2 507 du plex stain
less steel, Fatig ue & Fract ur e of Engng. Mal.
& Str uct. 26 (2 003), pp. 27-3 5

Abstract
Verhalten eines ferritisch-martensitischen Fusionsreaktorstah
les unter zyklischer Beanspruchung bei mittleren Temperatu
reno Fiir den vorli egenden Beitrag wurde das Ermudungsverhalten
des Stahl es EUROFER 97 unter Beanspru chung im Low Cycle Fa
tigu e-Bereich in ver schi edenen Region en der plastischen Gesamt
dehnung und bei Temperaturen zwischen 20C und 450 C unter
sucht. Das Verhalten unter zyklischer Beanspruchung wurde analy
siert, in dem die FlieBspannung in die Riickspannung (Back Str es s)
sowi e die Reibspannung (Friction Str ess) unterteilt wurde. Urn die
Unt er schiede in diesem Spannungskomponenten zu erklaren , wer
den ver schiedene Mechani smen im Zusamm enhang mit der zykli
sche n Entfes tigung pr opagiert. Die zykli sche Entfestigung konnte
bei 20C dem forts chreit enden Ablosen von Versetzungen an Koh
lenstoffatomen zug eschrieb en werden. Bei hoheren Temperaturen
stimmen die mec hanischen Entfestigungseffekte mit der Aus bildung
von anfangs se hr fein en Martensitplatten zu eine r grob er en aqul
axialen Zellstruktur iiber ein . Bei allen Temperaturen wurde eine Ab
nahme der Verse tzu ngs dichte innerhalb der Mikrokorner beobach
tet, all erdings in grofser ern MaBe bei hoh er en Temperaturen.

LOW CYCLE FATIGUE

6 l. Alvarez-Arm as, A. F. Armas, S. Degall ai x,

G. Degall ai x: Publica tion at th e 6 th Int erna
tiona l Confer e nce & Expos it ion on Dupl ex
Sta inless Steels (2000), p. IS7
7 B. Fourni er , M. Sauzay, C. Caes , M. Noble
court, M. Mottot: Ana lys is of th e hyst eres is
loop s of a marten siti c s tee l - Part I: Study
of th e influ en ce of st ra in a mplit ude a nd
temper ature und er pure fati gu e loadings
usin g a n enha nce d stres s partitio nin g
method , Mater . Sci. and Eng . A 437 (2006),
pp .183-196
8 G. R. Spe ich: Te mpe ring of low-carbon
marten sit e, Tran sacti on s of th e Metallurgi
ca l Socie ty AIME 24 5 (1969), pp . 2553-2563

(IFIR) in Arge n tina, s he becam e Invit ed Re

searc her at the Fors chungs zentrum Karl sruh e .
Pres en tly, s he is Professo r a t the Natio na l
Unive rs it y of Rosario.
Iri s Alva rez -Arma s , born in 1953, s tud ied
Ph ysics a t th e Na tiona l Un ive rs ity of Buen os
Aires , a nd recei ved her PhD in Phys ics at th e
Nationa l Univers ity of Ros ar io in Arge ntina .
Afterward s , s he wa s a Pos tDoc a nd an Inv ited
Resear ch er at th e Forschungszentrurn Karl s
ruh e, Germa n y. She th en beca me Invit ed Pro
fes sor at the Ecole Ce ntrale de Lille in Fran ce .
Pr es entl y, she is Pro fess or at th e National
Univers ity of Rosario a nd Direct or of Resear ch
of th e Nationa l Cou ncil of Scient ific Res ear ch
a nd Techno logy (C O~ I C ET ) in Argentina.

Albe rto Armas, born 194 5, studied a nd

received hi s Ph D in Ph ys ics at th e th e Nationa l
Unive rs ity of Rosario in Arge ntina . Afte rwa rds,
he was a Post Doc and a n Invit ed Resear ch er at
th e Forsc hu ngsze n tru m Karlsr uhe, Germa ny.
li e also was a n Invited Profess or at the Ecole
Cen trale de Lille in Fra nce, and is pr esentl y
Profes sor at th e Nationa l Univers ity of Rosari o.
Cla us Pet ersen , born 194 2, s tud ied Mec ha n
ical Engin eerin g at th e Tec hnica l Un ivers ity in
Berlin a nd Materi al s Sci e nce at th e Tec hnica l
Un iversit y Claus tha l. He was member of the
scientific s ta ff a nd grou ps lead er at th e In stitut
fur Mat eri alfor schun g II (IMF II) of th e Kern
for s chungs zentrum Karls ruhe . li e is now Vice
Director of th e s ame in stitute .

The Authors of this Contr ibut ion

Martina Aval os , born in 196 7 , s tudied an d
recei ved her PhD in Ph ysi cs at th e Nationa l
Unive rs ity of Rosar io in Arge ntina . Afte r her
Post Doc at th e Instituto de Fisica de Rosari o

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