Multiaxial low cycle fatigue behavior and constitutive model of 316L under various loading paths at high-temperature

The work is devoted into investigating the multiaxial low cycle fatigue behavior and constitutive model of 316L under various strain amplitudes, strain ratios, and phase angles at 550 °C. Experimental results show that both axial and shear stress amplitudes present three stages of cyclic hardening, softening and fracture. Internal stress analysis reveals that initial cyclic hardening is influenced by both friction and back stresses, while cyclic softening is primarily controlled by friction stress. Moreover, the Mises equivalent stress–strain relationship effectively accommodates different strain amplitudes and strain ratios, but cannot account for the non-proportional hardening arising from back stress. Pearson correlation analysis highlights a correlation between fatigue life and the equivalent stress amplitude and plastic strain energy density, and that elastic modulus is influenced by strain ratio and phase angle, not the strain amplitude. Based on the Chaboche unified viscoplastic constitutive theory, an improved constitutive model incorporating new hardening rules and Hooke’s law is proposed. In the proposed model, three classical loading path-dependent coefficients’ ability for description of non-proportional hardening and stiffness weakening behaviors are evaluated. Simulation results reveal that the proposed model can effectively capture the non-proportional hardening of back stress, stiffness weakening, non-masing effect, and varied softening rate.