International Journal of Fatigue 158 (2022) 106774

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International Journal of Fatigue

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijfatigue

Multiaxial fatigue behaviour and damage mechanisms of P92 steel under

various strain amplitudes and strain ratios at high temperature
Ning Gao a, b, Wei Zhang a, b, *, Peng Yin a, b, Fei Liang a, b, Guodong Zhang c, Xianxi Xia c,
Yanfen Zhao c, Changyu Zhou a, b, *
a
School of Mechanical and Power Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing 211816, China
b
Jiangsu Key Lab of Design and Manufacture of Extreme Pressure Equipment, Nanjing 211816, China
c
Suzhou Nuclear Power Research Institute, Suzhou 215004, China

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: High temperature multiaxial fatigue tests at different strain amplitudes and strain ratios were performed at
Multiaxial fatigue 600 ◦ C. Dynamic strain ageing (DSA) analysis and microstructure characterization were used to analyze the
Strain amplitude cyclic deformation and damage mechanisms. Results reveal that the increases in strain amplitude and strain ratio
Strain ratio
accelerate the cyclic softening. Moreover, the DSA behaviour shows a distinct dependence on the strain
Cyclic deformation
amplitude, strain ratio and loading direction. Furthermore, the increase in strain amplitude promotes subgrains
Damage mechanism
growth and dislocation structure transformation. Particularly, the increase in strain ratio promotes the occur­
rence of planar slip of dislocation.

1. Introduction
In the past decades, ultra-supercritical units have been widely
developed and used in order to improve power generation efficiency,
aiming to save resources and protect the environment [1-3]. The main
steam temperature in the ultra-supercritical unit has reached or even
exceeded 600 ◦ C, and the steam pressure has been higher than 31 MPa.
The critical operation conditions put forward stringent requirements for
the fatigue strength, creep strength, and corrosion resistance of gener­
ator materials under high temperature and high pressure [4,5]. Owing to
excellent properties at high temperature, P92 steel has been widely used
in manufacturing ultra-supercritical units [6]. During the service of
ultra-supercritical units, the high-temperature components often suffer
from the interaction of complex high-temperature loading and different
types of mechanical loading due to frequent start-ups and shutdowns.
For complex structures, the stress state is not simple uniaxial stress, but a
multiaxial stress state is present [7-9]. Therefore, the multiaxial fatigue
behaviour of P92 steel at a high temperature is deserved more in­
vestigations not only from the point of view of design but also from the
damage evaluation.
Recently, more and more researches have been focusing on the
multiaxial low cycle fatigue behaviours of materials. Generally, these
studies were focused on the multiaxial fatigue behaviours at room
temperature. Nakamura et al. [10] studied the effects of phase angle on
multiaxial crack behaviour and fatigue life of Ti-6Al-4 V and found that
the fatigue life of non-proportional specimen was about 1/10 of that of
proportional specimen, and the number of cracks was about 10 times of
that under proportional loading. Xu et al. [11] and Mei et al. [12]
considered that the loading path is the main factor affecting the multi­
axial fatigue performance. Among different paths, the fatigue perfor­
mance of the material under circular path loading is the worst. Shamsaei
et al. [13] investigated the effect of material structure and microstruc­
ture hardness on cyclic hardening of 1050 steel and 304 L stainless steel,
and found that the increase of microstructure hardness leads to the
decrease of cyclic hardening. In addition, the effect of loading sequence
on the multiaxial fatigue behaviour of titanium was also studied [14].
Colin et al.[15] studied the cyclic deformation of 304 L steel and 7075-
T6 aluminium under various loading amplitudes, and found that the
direction of overload affected the fatigue life. Ince et al.[16] studied the
effects of plastic and elastic strains on multiaxial fatigue damage. They
believed that the axial plastic strain is conducive to opening the crack,
and the torsional plastic strain is conducive to forming the core of the
microcracks. On the other hand, the normal elastic strain helped to open
the crack and accelerated the crack growth. Ma et al. [17] carried out
multiaxial low cycle fatigue tests on TA2 under various multiaxial strain
ratios, and found that the increase of multiaxial strain ratio promoted

* Corresponding authors at: School of Mechanical and Power Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing 211816, China.
E-mail addresses: zhang_wei@njtech.edu.cn (W. Zhang), changyu_zhou@163.com (C. Zhou).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijfatigue.2022.106774
Received 30 November 2021; Received in revised form 18 January 2022; Accepted 27 January 2022
Available online 1 February 2022
0142-1123/© 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
N. Gao et al. International Journal of Fatigue 158 (2022) 106774

Fig. 1. Microstructure of the as-received P92 steel: (a) OM graph, (b) TEM graph, and (c) schematic representation of the microstructure.

Fig. 2. Sizes of the specimen (mm).

Fig. 3. (a) Loading path and (b) loading waveform of the axial-torsion fatigue tests.

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N. Gao et al. International Journal of Fatigue 158 (2022) 106774

properties of duplex stainless steel (CF8M). Li et al. [26] performed an

Fig. 4. Schematic diagram of the test device.
the initial cyclic hardening in the axial direction.
Based on the study of multiaxial fatigue at room temperature, a series
of studies on the multiaxial fatigue properties of materials at high
temperatures were carried out. Inoue et al. [18-21] systematically
studied the multiaxial fatigue behaviour of 2.25Cr-1Mo steel under
seven different loading conditions at 600 ◦ C. Shang et al. [22] conducted
an experimental work on the multiaxial fatigue properties of nickel-base
alloy GH4169 at 650 ◦ C. It was shown that the strain loading path,
loading path sequence and loading parameters affected the cyclic
hardening or cyclic softening behaviours. Based on the critical plane
method, Shang et al. [23] defined a damage parameter to characterize
the multiaxial fatigue damage at high temperatures. Wang et al.[24]
further proposed a modified von Mises stress to calculate high-
temperature multiaxial creep damage. Kwon et al. [25] focused on the
effect of material degradation on the axial-torsion multiaxial fatigue
experimental study on axial-torsion thermomechanical fatigue of nickel-
base alloys within the temperature range of 360 ◦ C to 650 ◦ C and found
that the fatigue life depended on the combined action of fatigue, creep,
and oxidation damage. To date, there are also some reports [7,27,28] on
the multiaxial properties of P92 steel. Nevertheless, due to the limitation
of test equipment, most of the studies can only apply axial loading to the
specimen. They cut a notch along the circumferential direction of the
cylindrical solid specimen, and obtained different multiaxial stress states
by changing the size of the notch. However, the notched specimen
cannot obtain the torsional stress state. Therefore, the effect of torsional
deformation on the material properties cannot be clarified through
notched specimens. To the best of the knowledge of the authors, re­
searches about the multiaxial fatigue behaviour of P92 steel under axial-
torsion loading at high temperature are still limited. Especially, re­
searches on the microscopic damage mechanism of P92 steel under
axial-torsion loading are rarely reported. Therefore, this work is devoted
to investigating the effects of both strain amplitude and strain ratio on
the cyclic deformation and damage mechanism of P92 steel at elevated
temperatures.
In the present work, multiaxial fatigue tests at different strain am­
plitudes (±0.2%, ±0.3%, ±0.4%, ±0.6%) and strain ratios (0, √3/10,
√3/5, 2√3/5, 3√3/5) are performed at an elevated temperature of
600 ◦ C. Afterwards, the cyclic stress–strain response and fatigue life of
the material under multiaxial fatigue loading are evaluated. Finally, the
fracture mechanism of the material is clarified by scanning electron
microscope (SEM), and the microstructures are observed by trans­
mission electron microscope (TEM) to clarify the damage mechanism of
the material.
2. Material and methods
The material studied in this work is P92 steel in the form of a pipe,
which has a diameter and wall thickness of 230 mm and 90 mm,
respectively. The chemical compositions are listed in wt.%: 0.012C;
0.191Si; 0.418 Mn; 8.83 Cr; 0.462 Mo; 0.195 V; 0.0071 Ti; 0.0037B;
0.339 Ni; 0.052 Al; 0.0466 Cu; 0.0745 Nb; 0.048 N; 1.60 W; 0.0038P.
Fig. 1(a) and (b) shows the microstructure of the material observed by
optical microscope (OM) and TEM. The schematic representation of the
microstructure is presented in Fig. 1(c). As it can be seen that there are
some points with high precipitate density, which are three-phase points
formed due to the contact between the prior austenite grain boundaries
(PAGBs). Martensitic laths in different directions are distributed in the

Table 1
Detailed tests conditions for the axial-torsion fatigue tests of P92 steel.
Test No. Temperature Multiaxial strain ratio Axial strain amplitude Maximum torsional strain amplitude Axial strain rate Fatigue life
(◦ C) (%) (%) (s¡1) (N)

IF02600 600 0 ±0.2 / 1 × 10-3 6050

IF03600 600 0 ±0.3 / 1 × 10-3 894
IF04600 600 0 ±0.4 / 1 × 10-3 446
IF06600 600 0 ±0.6 / 1 × 10-3 107
TF02600√3/10 600 √3/10 ±0.2 ±0.035 1 × 10-3 4388
TF03600√3/10 600 √3/10 ±0.3 ±0.052 1 × 10-3 806
TF04600√3/10 600 √3/10 ±0.4 ±0.069 1 × 10-3 445
TF06600√3/10 600 √3/10 ±0.6 ±0.104 1 × 10-3 235
TF02600√3/5 600 √3/5 ±0.2 ±0.070 1 × 10-3 3225
TF03600√3/5 600 √3/5 ±0.3 ±0.104 1 × 10-3 629
TF04600√3/5 600 √3/5 ±0.4 ±0.138 1 × 10-3 440
TF06600√3/5 600 √3/5 ±0.6 ±0.208 1 × 10-3 173
TF026002√3/5 600 2√3/5 ±0.2 ±0.140 1 × 10-3 2535
TF036002√3/5 600 2√3/5 ±0.3 ±0.208 1 × 10-3 584
TF046002√3/5 600 2√3/5 ±0.4 ±0.276 1 × 10-3 372
TF066002√3/5 600 2√3/5 ±0.6 ±0.416 1 × 10-3 183
TF026003√3/5 600 3√3/5 ±0.2 ±0.210 1 × 10-3 1248
TF036003√3/5 600 3√3/5 ±0.3 ±0.312 1 × 10-3 545
TF046003√3/5 600 3√3/5 ±0.4 ±0.414 1 × 10-3 367
TF066003√3/5 600 3√3/5 ±0.6 ±0.624 1 × 10-3 183

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N. Gao et al.
Fig. 5. Method of the preparation of the samples for SEM and TEM observations.
blocks of PAGBs, which is also a typical feature of P92 steel [29].
Moreover, precipitates of M23C6 are distributed along the martensite
lath boundaries, and there are also some nano-type MX precipitates
distributed inside the lath [30], as shown in Fig. 1(b). In addition, some
dislocations are observed in the martensite laths, where some disloca­
tions connect with each other. Therefore, some dislocation networks
inside the laths are observed. The hierarchical microstructure contrib­
utes to the good properties of P92 steel under high temperatures.
To investigate the axial-torsion fatigue behaviour of P92 steel, a
hollow tubular specimen (Fig. 2) is designed according to the ASTM
E2207 standard [31]. The gauge length, the outer diameter and the wall
thickness of the specimen are 30 mm, 10 mm and 1 mm, respectively.
Before testing, the outer and inner surfaces of all specimens are polished
to avoid the influence of scratches on the initiation of fatigue cracks,
where the average surface roughness of the outer and inner sides are
limited within Ra 0.2 and Ra 0.4, respectively.
The axial-torsion fatigue test is performed in strain control mode.
During fatigue tests, the axial strain amplitude is set as ± 0.2%, ±0.3%,
±0.4% and ± 0.6%. A constant strain rate of 1 × 10-3 s− 1 is adopted. The
multiaxial strain ratio (λ) represents the ratio of the axial strain ampli­
tude to the torsional strain amplitude is set as 0, √3/10, √3/5, 2√3/5
and 3√3/5. Fig. 3 shows the loading path and loading waveform of the
tests. The strain is measured using an axial-torsion extensometer pro­
duced by MTS (632.68F-08). Due to the limitation of the measurement
range of the extensometer (the maximum torsion angle is ± 5◦ ), the
maximum strain ratio is set as 3√3/5. All the fatigue tests are carried
out at 600 ◦ C in an electro-hydraulic servo fatigue test system (MTS
809). The temperature of the specimen is measured and controlled in
real-time by a K-type thermocouple, which is tied on the outer surface of
the gauge section. When the temperature reaches 600 ◦ C, the specimen
is held for 30 min to ensure that the temperature distributes uniformly
between the outer and inner sides before fatigue tests, and the temper­
ature deviation is controlled within ± 2 ◦ C. Fig. 4 shows the detailed test
device and Table 1 lists the detailed test conditions.
After fatigue failure, the fracture characteristics of the failure spec­
imens are observed by SEM and the microstructures of the failure
specimens are observed by TEM, aiming to investigate the fracture and
microstructural damage mechanisms. Fig. 5 presents the method of the
preparation of the samples for SEM and TEM observations. One part is
cut near the fracture location for SEM observation. Meanwhile, a thin
sheet, with a thickness of 0.3 mm along the inner wall of the specimen, is
cut for the TEM observation. These TEM samples are firstly mechanically
polished to 80 μm with metallographic sandpaper, and then
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International Journal of Fatigue 158 (2022) 106774
electrochemically polished with ethanol electrolyte containing 10%
perchloric acid to obtain the observable area. The microstructure
observation is conducted in an FEI Tecnai G2 F30 with a working voltage
of 300 kV.
3. Results
3.1. Cyclic deformation response
3.1.1. Effect of strain amplitude
Fig. 6 shows the variation of peak tensile stress with respect to the
number of fatigue cycles at different strain amplitudes. As it can be
observed from the figure, the axial peak tensile stress of P92 steel shows
a continuous softening behaviour under different loading conditions,
which is consistent with that of P92 steel under uniaxial loading [32,33].
Moreover, the increasing strain amplitude promotes the increase of peak
tensile stress. The torsional peak stress response is similar to the axial
peak stress response, which also shows a continuous softening behaviour
in the whole fatigue process. Furthermore, the increasing strain ampli­
tude induces the increase of torsional peak stress as well. Nevertheless,
the torsional peak stress is much lower than the axial peak stress. This
may be because the plastic deformation, caused by the torsional
component, is very small compared with that caused by the axial
component, as shown in Fig. 6(f). To quantitatively characterize the
cyclic softening behaviour, the curves of the axial and torsional stress
response are fitted to determine the softening rate, as illustrated in
Fig. 7. It can be noted that the softening rate of the axial direction is
much greater than that of the torsional direction, and the increase of
strain amplitude accelerates the softening in both axial and torsional
direction, which is detrimental to the fatigue life [34].
Fig. 8 presents the stress–strain hysteresis loops along the axial and
torsional directions of the half-life cycle under different strain ampli­
tudes. It is noted that both the plastic strain energies (area of the hys­
teresis loop) in axial and torsional directions increase with increasing
strain amplitude. For axial stress, the peak stress with a strain amplitude
of 0.2% is the smallest compared with other strain amplitudes. This is
because when the strain amplitude is 0.2%, the plastic strain energy is
very small and its softening rate is low. Thus the stress drop is slow, as
shown in Fig. 6 and Fig. 8. Moreover, when comparing the cyclic
stress–strain hysteresis loops in the axial and torsional direction, the
torsional stress is much smaller than the axial stress although the strain
is similar (Fig. 8(e1) and Fig. 8(e2)). Furthermore, stress serrations, a
typical feature of dynamic strain ageing (DSA) [35], are also observed in
N. Gao et al.
Fig. 6. Variation of peak tensile stress of P92 steel under different strain amplitudes for various multiaxial strain ratios: (a) λ = 0, (b) λ=√3/10, (c) λ=√3/5, (d) λ =
2√3/5, (e) λ = 3√3/5 and (f) plastic strain at the half-life cycle.
the stress–strain hysteresis loops. DSA is mainly the result of the pinning
effect of solute atoms and moving dislocations [36,37]. In addition,
when the specimen is in a tensile state, the DSA phenomenon mainly
occurs in the axial direction, but when the specimen is in a compressive
state, the DSA phenomenon mainly occurs in the torsional direction.
Previous studies [38-40] have shown that DSA affects fatigue properties
by reducing ductility and plasticity. To analyze the change of the DSA
effect, the number of stress serrations and maximum stress drop are
quantitatively analyzed. On the hysteresis loop of the half life cycle, the
sum of the number of axial and torsional serrations is used as the number
of serrations. The serrations number has been proved to be related to the
microstructure evolution of materials, especially the periodic pinning
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International Journal of Fatigue 158 (2022) 106774
and depinning of dislocations [41]. The stress drop is the difference
between the highest stress and the lowest stress in the stress serration.
The maximum value of the stress drop represents the locking strength of
the solute atomic air mass to the moving dislocation [42]. The value of
stress drop and the number of stress serration can reflect the activity of
DSA. When the value of stress drop is high and the number of stress
serrations is large, the DSA activity is strong. The number of stress ser­
rations and maximum stress drop under different strain amplitudes are
shown in Fig. 9(a) and (b), respectively. The results show that with
increasing strain amplitude, the number of stress serrations increases
and shows an obvious accelerating trend, indicating the activity of DSA
increases. The maximum stress drop also has an obvious increasing trend
N. Gao et al. International Journal of Fatigue 158 (2022) 106774

Fig. 7. Variation of softening rate under different strain amplitudes: (a) axial softening rate, (b) torsional softening rate.

Fig. 8. Stress–strain hysteresis loops of the half-life cycle under different strain amplitudes of various strain ratios: (a) λ = 0, (b) λ=√3/10, (c) λ=√3/5, (d) λ =
2√3/5 and (e) λ = 3√3/5.

between the strain amplitude of 0.2% to 0.4%. However, the increasing
trend of the maximum stress drop slows down or even decreases after
strain amplitude exceeds 0.4%. This indicates that when the strain
amplitude exceeds 0.4%, the obstacle of dislocation movement is
weakened, which will be explained from the microscopic point of view
in the following sections.
Fig. 10 presents the evolution of fatigue life versus axial strain
amplitude. It can be observed that at different strain ratios, the fatigue
life decreases with increasing axial strain amplitude. When the strain
amplitude is less than 0.4%, the fatigue life decreases rapidly with
increasing strain amplitude, but when the strain amplitude is greater
than 0.4%, the fatigue life decreases slowly. Researches on the uniaxial
fatigue behaviour of P92 steel has shown that as the applied strain
amplitude exceeds 0.4%, even if the applied strain amplitude increases,
the change of fatigue life is not obvious [43]. From Fig. 10, we can also
obtain a similar conclusion as that under uniaxial fatigue loading,

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N. Gao et al.
Fig. 8. (continued).
suggesting that the damage caused by the increase of strain amplitude
reaches saturation. In other words, the introduction of torsional stress/
strain has little effect on the damage saturation behaviour at high strain
amplitude.
3.1.2. Effect of strain ratio
Fig. 11 shows the evolution of peak tensile stress versus the number
of fatigue cycles at different strain ratios. Even if the axial strain
amplitude remains unchanged, the axial peak tensile stress still alters
due to the different strain ratios. It was found that the axial peak tensile
stress decreases with increasing strain ratio, which is more obvious at
the strain amplitude of 0.4% and 0.6%. However, torsional peak stress is
enhanced by increasing the strain ratio. The softening rate is also
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International Journal of Fatigue 158 (2022) 106774
sensitive to the change of the strain ratio. It is observed in Fig. 12(a) that
when the strain ratio increases from 0 to √3/10, the axial softening rate
increases rapidly. Because its loading state just changes from uniaxial to
multiaxial loading, the introduction of the torsional stress is the major
reason for the change of the axial softening rate. When the multiaxial
strain ratio is between √3/10 and √3/5, the elastic deformation ac­
counts for a small part in the torsional component, and the plastic
deformation increases considerably, which promotes the transformation
of the microstructure. Therefore, the increasing trend of the axial soft­
ening rate slows down or even decreases. When the multiaxial strain is
√3/5 to 3√3/5, the plastic strain increases in the torsional direction,
and the axial softening rate increases slowly. Fig. 12(b) shows the
softening rate in the torsional direction. Different from the axial
N. Gao et al.
Fig. 9. (a) Number of stress serrations and (b) variation of maximum stress drop with strain amplitude.
Fig. 10. Relationship between fatigue life and axial strain amplitude.
direction, the torsional softening rate shows an increasing trend, which
is also consistent with the increase of plastic strain shown in Fig. 6(f).
Fig. 13 compares the stress–strain hysteresis loops in axial and
torsional directions of the half-life cycle under different strain ratios. It is
noted that the increase of the multiaxial strain ratio has little impact on
the axial plastic strain energy (area of the stress–strain hysteresis loop)
at low strain amplitude (strain amplitudes of 0.2% and 0.3%). However,
at high strain amplitudes of 0.4% and 0.6%, the increase in the multi­
axial strain ratio reduces the axial plastic strain energy. For torsional
plastic strain energy, the plastic strain energy increases significantly
with increasing strain ratio. The sum of axial and torsional plastic strain
energy is taken as the total plastic strain energy. Fig. 14 plots the evo­
lution of the total plastic strain energy at different strain amplitudes and
strain ratios. It is observed that the increases of the strain ratio and strain
amplitude enhance the total plastic strain energy, unavoidably inducing
large fatigue damage on the material.
Fig. 15 shows the evolution of fatigue life versus strain ratio. It is
noted that the increase of strain ratio results in the reduction of fatigue
life. With increasing strain ratio, torsional plasticity contributes greatly
to the damage of materials, resulting in the obvious reduction in fatigue
life. However, what stands out in the figure is that the effect of strain
ratio on the fatigue life is also affected by the strain amplitude. At a low
strain amplitude of 0.2%, the increase in strain ratio results in a
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International Journal of Fatigue 158 (2022) 106774
significant degradation in fatigue life. The harmful effect of strain ratio
on the fatigue life is apparently degraded by increasing axial strain
amplitude. Particularly, the fatigue life keeps almost constant irre­
spective of the strain ratio at a strain amplitude of 0.6%. The results
indicate that the damage caused by torsional loading is relatively
smaller than that by axial loading.
3.2. Fracture features characterization
3.2.1. Fracture behaviour at different strain amplitudes
To identify the fracture mechanisms under various loading condi­
tions, four representative specimens with strain amplitudes of 0.2%,
0.3%, 0.4%, and 0.6% for a strain ratio equal to √3/5 were selected for
fracture morphology analysis, as shown in Fig. 16. It is observed that
there are multiple crack source regions on the inner and outer walls of
the specimen, where most of the main cracks initiate from the inner
surface and propagate to the outer surface, while a few cracks originate
from the outer surface and extend to the inner wall. Finally, the two
cracks intersected near the outer wall, forming the fracture morphology
characteristics of mainly cracking on the inner surface and supple­
mented by cracking on the outer surface. With increasing strain ampli­
tude, the number of fatigue crack sources increases, which induces lower
fatigue life. A certain number of secondary cracks can be observed under
four different strain amplitudes. Previous studies [43,44] showed that
the secondary crack of P92 steel starts from the crack tip and extends
into the matrix along the transgranular direction. It can also see from the
figure above that most of the secondary cracks are perpendicular to the
fatigue crack growth direction. With the increase of strain amplitude,
some secondary cracks tend to connect, making the secondary cracks
more obvious. The secondary crack generally extends to the tearing
ridge. Tearing ridge is the main characteristic sign of mode I fracture
under low cycle fatigue loading. In the case of mode I fracture, fatigue
stripes perpendicular to the crack propagation direction are generated,
as shown in Fig. 16. Moreover, it is observed that when the strain
amplitude gradually increases from 0.2% to 0.4%, at the same magni­
fication, the fatigue stripes gradually become sparse, indicating that the
spacing of fatigue stripes is gradually increasing. According to the
research of Wareing and Vaughan [45], the longer the crack, the greater
the fringe spacing, and the fringe spacing represents the macro growth
rate of the crack. In other words, the increase of strain amplitude pro­
motes the crack growth rate, which is characterized by the increase of
fatigue fringe spacing. In the fracture morphology, some peculiar fatigue
stripes of tire traces can also be observed, which produce fatigue stripes
N. Gao et al. International Journal of Fatigue 158 (2022) 106774

Fig. 11. Variation of peak tensile stress of P92 steel under different strain ratios for various strain amplitudes: (a) Δε/2 = 0.2%, (b) Δε/2 = 0.3%, (c) Δε/2 = 0.4%,
(d) Δε/2 = 0.6%.

Fig. 12. Variation of softening rate under different multiaxial strain ratios: (a) axial softening rate, (b) torsional softening rate.

in two directions respectively under the action of torsional shear stress
and axial tensile and compressive stress. The fatigue stripes in two di­
rections cross each other to form the fatigue stripes of wheel tire traces,
which is also the mixed type fatigue fracture characteristics of type I and
type II.
3.2.2. Fracture behaviour at different strain ratio
To further study the influence of strain ratio on the fatigue crack
initiation and propagation behaviour, the fracture morphologies under
different strain ratios for a strain amplitude equal to 0.3% are observed,
as shown in Fig. 17. It can be noted from the low magnification images
that the number of crack sources decreases with increasing multiaxial
strain ratio, which shows that the increase of shear strain weakens the
crack sources. The enlarged view of the crack source area also validates
it. With the increase of shear strain, the crack source becomes flatter,
and the height drop of morphology on both sides decreases obviously.
Moreover, it can be seen that there are many small cleavage planes with
different sizes, shapes, and heights in the crack propagation region. In
addition, there are parallel and continuous fatigue stripes on each small
cleavage plane, but the fatigue stripes on the cleavage planes of several

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Fig. 13. Hysteresis loops of P92 steel under different multiaxial strain ratios: (a) Δε/2 = 0.2%, (b) Δε/2 = 0.3%, (c) Δε/2 = 0.4%, (d) Δε/2 = 0.6%.

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N. Gao et al.
Fig. 14. Relationship between strain energy density and strain ratio.
Fig. 15. Relationship between fatigue life and multiaxial strain ratio.
adjacent faults are not parallel and continuous [46]. When the fatigue
fringes in the crack growth zone show good regularity, continuity, and
consistency, it shows that it is a kind of ductile fatigue fringes. When
there is a large amount of plastic deformation in fatigue, the ductile
fatigue stripe also produces deformation and is no longer continuous
[47]. This is the reason why the faults between small cleavage planes
show fracture characteristics, and this phenomenon will become more
and more obvious with the increase in strain ratio.
3.3. Microstructure evolution
3.3.1. Microstructure evolution under different strain amplitudes
To understand the microstructural damage mechanisms under
different loadings, the microstructures of P92 steel after fatigue failure
under different strain amplitudes for a strain ratio equal to √3/5 are
observed, as shown in Fig. 18. An overview of these figures indicates
that compared with the as-received material (Fig. 1(b)), the martensite
laths tend to widen. Compared with the microstructure of strain am­
plitudes of 0.2% and 0.3%, there are some obvious subgrain structures
with increasing axial strain amplitudes to 0.4% and 0.6%. Benjamin
et al. [48] revealed that the growth of subgrain is the result of the
dissolution of the low angle boundaries containing subgrain and lath
boundaries. During the fatigue process of P92 steel, the subgrains in
martensite lath are growing continuously, and their number and size are
increasing [49]. High strain amplitude accelerates this process due to
high plastic strain. Therefore, it is easier to observe subgrain under high
strain amplitude. Meanwhile, carbides, which are mainly distributed in
the interior of grains and on the lath boundaries, are observed. There are
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International Journal of Fatigue 158 (2022) 106774
also a certain number of carbides in the grain, which are arranged lin­
early, showing the position of the initial lath boundary. However, the
coarsening of carbides after multiaxial fatigue is not obvious, because
the coarsening of precipitates is mainly related to time [50]. In the
present work, the time of the tests is short (the maximum test time is
about 10 h). Hence the coarsening of precipitates hardly occurs. Addi­
tionally, most of the dislocations in the martensitic laths of P92 steel in
the as-received state are high-density dislocations (Fig. 1(b)). This high-
density dislocation is mainly formed by the interaction between
austenite grain boundary and martensite lath during martensitic trans­
formation. After multiaxial fatigue, most dislocations in the micro­
structure show the form of a dislocation network (Fig. 19), which is a
sign of the decrease of dislocation density [51]. It is noted that with the
increase in strain amplitude, the free dislocation region between laths
appears more frequently and the dislocation density decreases gradu­
ally. The dislocation lines in the subgrain appear to pass through the
subgrain boundaries. At low strain amplitude, their arrangement is
mainly cellular, and at high strain amplitude, the dislocation shows a
parallel band. At the subgrain boundary, dislocations show a large
number of disordered entanglements to form dislocation walls, and the
dislocation wall becomes more prominent at high strain amplitude.
3.3.2. Microstructure evolution under different strain ratios
Fig. 20 presents the microstructures of P92 steel under different
strain ratios for an axial strain amplitude of 0.3%. It is observed that the
width of martensitic lath increases and dislocation density inside the
laths also decreases with the increase of the multiaxial strain ratio. The
annihilation of free dislocations and dislocations with opposite symbols
in the lath is an important reason for the reduction of dislocations [52].
Under a low strain ratio, some knitted dislocations can be observed,
which are the characteristics of dissolution of subgrain boundary [53].
However, knitting dislocations cannot be observed at a high strain ratio,
which can be ascribed to the fact that a high strain ratio accelerates the
movement of free dislocations and dissolves the boundary of the sub­
grain. Moreover, with the increase of the strain ratio, some ladder and
banded dislocations appear in the microstructure, which is a planar
dislocation [54]. It shows that the increase of the strain ratio promotes
the cross slip in axial and torsional directions, resulting in this planar slip
of dislocation.
4. Discussions
4.1. Effect of strain amplitude on the multiaxial fatigue damage behaviour
The results section has shown that during the multiaxial fatigue
process, both the axial and torsional plastic deformations increase with
increasing strain amplitude. Meanwhile, fatigue life is significantly
reduced. Notably, as the strain amplitude exceeds 0.4%, even if the
strain amplitude increases, damage caused by the increase of strain
amplitude reaches saturation. Generally, fatigue damage is mainly
caused by the accumulation of plastic deformation [55]. The reduction
of dislocation and the growth of subgrain are the main microstructural
reasons for the fatigue damage.
At different strain amplitudes, P92 steel shows three continuous
softening stages during the fatigue process, as shown in Fig. 6. The dy­
namic recovery caused by the rearrangement of dislocations in the laths
contributes to the phenomenon. However, the softening rate of P92 steel
shows obvious differences under different strain amplitudes. Therefore,
the evolution trend of microstructure under different strain amplitude is
varied. It is observed from the microstructures in Fig. 19 that at low
strain amplitude, the dislocation presents a cellular shape, which is a
low-energy structure. The formation of this cellular dislocation weakens
the cyclic softening effect of P92 steel [44], so it shows a lower softening
rate at low strain amplitude. At high strain amplitude, the growth of
subgrains after lath boundary dissolution can be observed in Fig. 18, and
the microstructure recovery is relatively uniform. This is because the
N. Gao et al.
Fig. 16. Fracture morphology of P92 steel under different axial strain amplitudes for a strain ratio equal to √3/5: (a) 0.2%, (b) 0.3%, (c) 0.4%, (d) 0.6%.
recovery of subgrain is related to the local plastic deformation at each
cycle [56]. At high strain amplitude, the local plastic deformation is also
large, which promotes the recovery of microstructure. The microstruc­
ture formed by this recovery mechanism increases the average free path
of dislocations [44], and dislocations pass through the subgrain
boundary and show strip characteristics, promoting the increase of
softening rate at high strain amplitude.
Considering the fact that the DSA is the result of the gravitational
interaction between moving dislocations and solute atoms [42], it is not
difficult to deduce that the DSA phenomenon is also closely related to
the evolution of microstructure. It is well known that the precipitate
12
International Journal of Fatigue 158 (2022) 106774
contains chromium and other elements [57]. The interaction between
atoms in these elements and dislocations can effectively lock disloca­
tions and produce a pinning effect. Studies on the high-temperature
fatigue of P92 steel have shown that the precipitates in the lath inevi­
tably aggregate and coarsen during the fatigue process [58,59].
Although the test period in this study is short, no obvious precipitate
aggregation and coarsening are observed. However, the internal solute
atoms also tend to aggregate. Because large plastic deformation accel­
erates the recovery of microstructure, as shown in Fig. 19(a) and (b), the
aggregation of solute atoms is promoted. The frequency of pinning and
depinning between dislocation and solute atoms is thus enhanced.
N. Gao et al.
Fig. 17. Fracture morphology of P92 steel under different multiaxial strain ratios for an axial strain amplitude equal to 0.3%: (a) λ = 0, (b) λ=√3/10, (c) λ=√3/5,
(d) λ = 2√3/5 and (e) λ = 3√3/5.
Therefore, the number of stress serrations increase with increasing strain
amplitude, as shown in Fig. 9(a). When the dislocation and solute atoms
are pinned, there is threshold stress that makes the dislocation free from
the pinning effect [60]. When the threshold stress is overcome and the
dislocation is separated from the pinning, the dislocation continues to
move and bind with the next solute atom and then remove the pinning.
Eventually, these dislocations annihilate with the dislocations of oppo­
site symbols or form cellular structures with lower energy. However,
when the strain amplitude is large enough, dislocation forms a dislo­
cation wall, as shown in Fig. 19(c) and (d), which accommodates plastic
13
International Journal of Fatigue 158 (2022) 106774
deformation [61]. This has an inhibitory effect on the DSA effect.
Therefore, when the strain amplitude is 0.6%, the maximum stress drop
tends to slow down, as shown in Fig. 9(b). The evolution of fatigue life in
Fig. 10 also proves this phenomenon. Because the dislocation wall
formed by dislocation accommodates plastic deformation, the fatigue
damage of plastic deformation on the microstructure is reduced. At the
same time, the decrease of DSA activity further reduces the damage. This
explains the phenomenon that the effect of strain amplitude on the fa­
tigue life is reduced when the strain amplitude exceeds 0.4%. The
detailed schematic damage mechanisms is shown in Fig. 21.
N. Gao et al.
Fig. 18. Microstructure of P92 steel under different axial strain amplitudes for a strain ratio equal to √3/5: (a) 0.2%, (b) 0.3%, (c) 0.4%, (d) 0.6%.
4.2. Effect of strain ratio on the multiaxial fatigue damage behaviour
Regarding the effect of strain ratio, results show that the total plastic
strain energy is accumulating with increasing strain ratio, resulting in
large fatigue damage, as shown in Fig. 14. However, it is found from
Fig. 13 that with increasing strain ratio, the change of axial plastic strain
energy is relatively small, whereas the increasing trend of torsional
plastic strain energy is obvious, suggesting that the change in total
plastic strain energy is mainly brought about by the torsional component
with increasing strain ratio. Results also show that at high strain ratios,
the damage caused by the torsional part reaches saturation, which is
similar to the axial behaviour. With increasing strain ratio, torsional
plastic deformation plays a great role in the cyclic deformation and
microstructure evolution, but its influence is still limited.
At a relatively low strain ratio, some braided dislocations near the
boundary are observed in Fig. 20(a), (b), and (c). Braided dislocations
react with subgrain boundaries, resulting in the dissolution of subgrains.
The increase of the strain ratio promotes this process. Obviously, the
dissolution of subgrains promotes the cyclic softening of materials,
which is well reflected in Fig. 12. In addition, at a low strain ratio, the
torsional plastic strain can be ignored as it is much smaller than the axial
14
International Journal of Fatigue 158 (2022) 106774
plastic strain, as shown in Fig. 6(f). Also due to this reason, the DSA
mainly appears in the axial direction, as shown in Fig. 13. Moreover,
since axial plastic strain plays a dominant role, the fracture morphology
under a low strain ratio is closer to the uniaxial fatigue.
At a relatively high strain ratio, the subgrain boundaries have dis­
solved, the carbide on the boundary distributes isolated in the grains, as
shown in Fig. 20(d) and (e). These carbides are easy to attract disloca­
tions for pinning, which promotes the DSA effect. Hence in Fig. 13, the
DSA can be obviously observed in the torsional direction at a high strain
ratio. Because the DSA restricts the free movement of internal disloca­
tions, it weakens the softening of P92 steel. Thus, at a high strain ratio,
the axial softening rate decreases firstly and then increases again, as
shown in Fig. 12(a). Moreover, some laddered dislocations are also
observed in Fig. 20(d) and (e), and slip bands in the linear direction are
observed in Fig. 20(d). These are typical characteristics of planar slip.
Because the pinning effect of dislocations in DSA limits the movement of
dislocations on the slip plane, making dislocations move in the form of
planar slip [62]. The main slip system is fixed and cannot rotate, which
is more likely to occur during fatigue load, while the secondary slip
system is not easy to start [63]. The planar slip phenomenon is easier to
be observed at a high strain ratio (Fig. 20), indicating that the increase of
N. Gao et al.
Fig. 19. Dislocation morphology of P92 steel under different axial strain amplitudes for a strain ratio equal to √3/5: (a) 0.2%, (b) 0.3%, (c) 0.4%, (d) 0.6%.
the strain ratio strengthens the secondary slip under multiaxial fatigue.
In addition, due to the accumulation of plastic deformation, a large
number of carbides gather near the boundaries of laths or grains, which
is a favourable position for microcrack nucleation. Therefore, under the
combined effect of carbide and planar slip, the fracture morphology of
the specimen shows the characteristics of a broken small cleavage sur­
face, as shown in Fig. 17. Secondary cracks are easy to occur between the
small cleavage planes of fatigue stripes in different directions, which
reduces the fatigue strength of P92 steel. The detailed damage mecha­
nism process is also shown in Fig. 21.
In regard to the fatigue life (Fig. 15), at a low axial strain amplitude,
the fatigue life decreases rapidly with increasing strain ratio, while at a
high axial strain amplitude, the fatigue life is insensitive to the variation
of strain ratio. Because the axial plastic strain is very small at low axial
strain amplitude (Fig. 6(f)), therefore the change in torsional plastic
strain has a great impact on fatigue life. However, at a high axial strain
amplitude, the axial plastic deformation increases greatly (Fig. 6(f)), and
the impact of the change in torsional plastic strain on fatigue life is
reduced, demonstrating that the fatigue damage is dominated by axial
plastic deformation. In other words, the effect of torsional plastic
deformation plays a second role next to the axial plastic deformation.
5. Conclusion
In this work, the axial-torsion fatigue behaviour and damage
15
International Journal of Fatigue 158 (2022) 106774
mechanisms of P92 steel at a high temperature have been evaluated. The
influences of strain amplitude and strain ratio on the softening behav­
iour, cyclic response, and fatigue life have been studied. In addition, the
correlation between the mechanical properties and microstructure
evolution has been comprehensively discussed. The following conclu­
sions can be drawn:
(1) P92 steel shows three-stages softening characteristics in both
axial and torsional directions. The increases in strain amplitude
and strain ratio accelerate the softening behaviour. However, the
effect of the axial strain amplitude reaches saturated after 0.4%
amplitude. Moreover, the effect of strain ratio is weakened with
increasing axial strain amplitude. Axial plasticity plays a leading
role in the multiaxial fatigue damage of P92 steel.
(2) The DSA behaviour shows a significant dependence on the
loading conditions. At a low strain ratio, the DSA occurs in the
axial direction when the specimen is stretched. Whereas at a high
strain ratio, the DSA appears in the torsional direction when the
specimen is compressed.
(3) The fracture morphology of P92 steel under high-temperature
multiaxial fatigue is a mixed fracture mode of mode I and mode
II. When the torsional plasticity is less, the fracture morphology is
similar to that of uniaxial fracture, mainly mode I fracture. When
the torsional plastic strain increases, the fatigue features show
tire marks, the cleavage surface is more broken.
N. Gao et al. International Journal of Fatigue 158 (2022) 106774

Fig. 20. Microstructure of P92 steel under different strain ratios for an axial strain amplitude equal to 0.3%: (a) λ = 0, (b) λ=√3/10, (c) λ=√3/5, (d) λ = 2√3/5 and
(e) λ = 3√3/5.

16
N. Gao et al.
Fig. 21. Schematic microstructural damage mechanisms under different strain amplitudes and strain ratios.
(4) The dislocation structure and martensite structure are signifi­
cantly dependent on the multiaxial fatigue loading. The increase
of strain amplitude accelerates the growth of subgrains in the
laths, promotes the dislocations transform from cellular to
banded shape and reduces free dislocations. The increase of strain
ratio enhances the dislocation slip, promotes the movement of
free dislocations, resulting in the reduction of dislocation density
and dissolution of the subgrain boundaries.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial supports of the
National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 52005250), China
Postdoctoral Science Foundation (No. 2021 M691559) and Jiangsu
Planned Projects for Postdoctoral Research Funds (No. 2020Z320).
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