Predicting the Effects of Cryogenic Treatment and Impact-Oscillatory Loading on Changes in the Strength Properties of Stainless Steels

Abstract New experimental results concerning the strength properties of stainless steels are analyzed. In particular, the strength properties of steels were improved at room temperature using the preliminary impact-oscillatory loading (IOL) in liquid nitrogen. Mechanical tests performed on stainless steel 12Kh18N10T have found the IOL conditions (deformation of the material during pulse loading—εimp = 9.69%), under which the ultimate strength of steel increases by 32.2% compared to the initial state under subsequent static tensioning. Metallographic analysis of the deformed steel revealed twinning in the microstructure. This accounts for a significant increase in ultimate strength under subsequent static tensioning. A method for estimating the ultimate strength of stainless steels of different chemical compositions by changing the percentage of the main chemical elements is proposed. To test this technique, stainless steel 12Kh18N9 was chosen. Similar studies using this steel at εimp = 9.5% in liquid nitrogen followed by static tensioning at room temperature have confirmed the effectiveness of the proposed approach.