The effects of strain amplitude and temperature on kinematic hardening parameters for low cycle fatigue of AISI316L stainless steel

• Low cycle fatigue behaviour of 316L at 20 °C and 300 °C at various strain ranges was captured. • Stainless steel 316L exhibits cyclic softening behaviour under cyclic loading. • The combined isotropic-kinematic hardening described the cyclic behaviour. • The model based on FEM was able to predict well the LCF behaviour. To perform a numerical simulation of low-cycle fatigue behaviour it is very important to model the elastoplastic behaviour of the material and for this, the proper estimation of the kinematic hardening parameters is a very critical part. The estimation of this kinematic hardening parameter is a very complex and time-consuming process. In the presented work, an experimental and numerical investigation of the low cycle fatigue behaviour of AISI316L stainless steel was carried out on the solid and hollow specimens with different strain amplitudes and temperatures. The simulation results were compared with the experimental data, and the agreement of these results was acceptable. On the basis of the results, preliminary equations for the estimation of kinematic hardening parameters are proposed, and the estimated parameters through these equations gave simulation results to the experimental results.