Nuclear Engineering and Design 114 (1989) 345-353

North-Holland, Amsterdam

345

A N E X P E R I M E N T A L I N V E S T I G A T I O N O F C Y C L I C H A R D E N I N G O F 316 S T A I N L E S S
S T E E L A N D O F 2024 A L U M I N I U M A L L O Y U N D E R M U L T I A X I A L L O A D I N G S
A. B E N A L L A L , P. L E G A L L O a n d D. M A R Q U I S
LcdToratoire de M~canique et Technologie, E.N.S. de Cachan, C.N.R.S., Universit~ Paris 6, 61, avenue du President Wilson,
94230 Cachan, France

Received March 1988

This paper is concerned with the experimental behavior of a 316 stainless steel and a 2024 aluminium alloy at room
temperature and under complex nonproportional strainings in tension-torsion. The basic features of this behavior are
underlined and their interactions emphasized. It is observed that the response of these materials under general loading paths is
a balance between hardening and softening occurring respectively when the nonproportionality of the straining path is
increased or decreased.

6I

1. Introduction
The behavior of metallic materials under nonproportional loadings has been extensively investigated in the
last few years from the experimental as well as the
theoretical points of view. First experimental multiaxial
data have clearly shown that the constitutive models
developed owing to uniaxial or proportional experiments were not able to reproduce the metallic behavior
under more complex paths. The scope of the paper is
the understanding of the behavior of metals under
complex loadings. To this end, a 316 stainless steel and
a 2024 aluminium alloy have been chosen and tested at
room temperature under tension-torsion. In a first section, the three basic features of the multiaxial response
of these materials are described: additional hardening,
subsequent softening and cross-hardening effect. In the
last sections, it is shown via some complex tests how
these phenomena interact.

2,,: 02

\[

2. Experimental procedures
The materials chosen for this study were type 316
austenitic stainless steel and a 2024 aluminium alloy.
Thin walled tubular axial-torsional specimens (see fig.
1) were machined from bars. The heat treatment of
these bars involved for the first material, a soaking at
1050C for one hour followed by a quench in water,
and a T4 temper for the second. A MTS axial-torsion
0 0 2 9 - 5 4 9 3 / 8 9 / $ 0 3 . 5 0 Elsevier Science Publishers B.V.

L
Fig. 1. Tension-torsion tubular specimen.

346

A. Benallal et al. / Cyclic hardening of 316 stainless steel

servohydraulic testing m a c h i n e was coupled to a

M O T O R O L A 68K computer through an analogicaldigital C A M A C interface for data acquisition and signals command generation. Axial and shear strains were
measured by strain gages of rosette type (VISHAY
MMEP-08-125RA-120) bonded on the outer surface of
the gage length of the specimen. Axial and shear stresses
were obtained from the values of axial force and torque
measured by corresponding load cells taking into
account the area change of the specimen cross section.
All the tests presented in this paper were performed
at room temperature. Moreover, the equivalent total
strain rates used lie between 2 10 -4 and 3 ] 0 - 4

o.51

.5 r ~ (MPa)

[]

.600

S -1"

.600

_300

300

1 6,00

3. Basic features of nonproportional responses

q (tCPa)

In this part, the basic characteristics of the behavior

of the tested materials under nonproportional loadings
are isolated and described. Under cyclic proportional
strainings, the steady-state response is observed to be
completely defined by the so-called cyclic curve which
represents the maximal range of the Von Mises' equivalent stress 6 versus the maximal range of the equivalent plastic strain Ep. These last quantities are respectively defined by:
= ~ s

~P =

._300

-_600

[]

Fig. 2. Cyclic hardening under proportional and nonproportional loadings for the same equivalent total strain c = 0.53%.
316 stainless steel at room temperature: (a) straining paths, (b)
steady-state stress responses.

V~;/;j,

where sii denotes the stress deviator.

However, this does not hold for more complex paths
and the following phenomena are generally observed.

In this paper the contribution of the different types

of hardening (isotropic, kinematic, anisotropic) are not
distinguished. The state of cyclic hardening is charMPa
200

-200

-400

-200

0
AXIAL STRESS

200

[]

400
MPa

Fig. 3. Cyclic hardening under proportional and out-of-phase loadings for the same equivalent total strain E = 0.50% for aluminium
alloy at room temperature: (a) straining paths, (b) transient responses.

347

A. Benallal et aL / Cyclic hardening of 316 stainless steel

crM(MPa)

z
6.

600,~

~00.

'i

4e

3"

AM

MPa

Uniaxial
~reference

400+

300

o~
~

200

NonproporhonalIoadings
=e~sincot

200.

2
3

4
s
6

100

33

.zs
,5

~3
33

.66

33

45
60

~, =

~'~ sin (cot +)

.2

.4

- -

#.

uniaxial

reference

I : ~,,~'~ ~

100
0

t
0.1

I
l
l
0,2
0,3
0,4
maximum equivalent plastic strain
at the steady-state

0,5
(%)

Fig. 5. Dependence of the cyclic hardening on the strain path

shape. 2024 Al alloy.

"YB
=

~(%)
0

m
c "~

.~ N

300.

400

.6

.8

~D.

Fig. 4. Dependence of the cyclic hardening on the strain path

shape (ellipticalpath). 316 SS.
acterized by the maximum value of the equivalent stress
over a cycle.
3,1. Additional hardening

When compared to proportional loadings cyclic

hardening is higher under nonproportional loadings

(Lamba and Sidebottom [1], Kanazawa and Miller [2],

Callletand et al. [3], McDowell and Socie [4], Tanaka et
al. [5], Krempl and Lu [6], Benallal and Marquis [7]. As
a simple illustration, fig. 2 shows for 316 stainless steel
the steady-state responses for a pure cyclic tension and
out-of-phase cyclic tension-torsion tests with the same
equivalent total strain. It is clearly shown there that the
amount of cyclic hardening can be very high (600 MPa
compared to 350 MPa) and cannot be neglected in the
design of practical components especially for damage
evaluation. Fig. 3 shows on the other hand the transient
responses for the ahiminium alloy under the same types
of loadings. The additional hardening is generally dependent on the shape of the loading path as depicted in

COO

10

20

30

40

50

60

t,o

~
[]

0.5

-6

[]

Fig. 6. Subsequent softening for 316 SS: (a) swain path, (b) stress response during the tension loading.

70

80

348

A. Benallal et aL / Cycfic hardening of 316 stainless steel

MPa
~34oo
<

,7/4-3

50 cycles
circular path

~ 200
0 55 ~

' proportional

LU
,~100
_>

== 0

path

20

40

ACCUMULATED

[]

60
PLASTIC

80
STRAIN

100
( % )

Fig. 7. Subsequent softening for 2024 A! alloy: (a) strain path, (b) stress response during the circular path sequence and the
proportional path sequence.

fig. 4 for some elliptical strain paths in the case of 316

stainless steel. For a given value of the phase displacement ( ~ ) between the shear strain and the axial strain,
the higher the ratio P between the amplitudes of the
shear strata and the axial strain, the higher the hardening. For a given value of p, an increasing value of q, up
to 90 leads to an increase of the hardening. This effect
is also shown for aluminium alloy in fig. 5 through
circular and square paths, and some other cyclic strain
paths defined in the 4.3.
3. 2. Subsequent softening
The additional hardening described above is recovered whenever the nonproportionality of the loading
is decreased. Again, as a simple illustration for 316
stainless steel, fig. 6 shows the stress response in pure

tension just after the material has been subjected to an

out-of-phase circular tension-torsion strain path. It can
be seen that the stress is decreasing. This effect is again
sketched in fig. 7 for the aluminium alloy. In all the
tests carried out up to now at r o o m temperature this
softening was observed to be not complete.
3.3. Cross-hardening effect
This effect appears when after a proportional loading in a given direction, the subsequent loading is a
proportional straining but in another direction. Once
more, simple illustrations are given in fig. 8 for 316
stainless steel and in fig. 9 for the aluminium alloy.
They show the stress responses in a test composed of
two sequences: a pure tension loading followed by a
pure torsion one in the case of 316 stainless steel, and

500~

mp,j

400 ~

--

300 4-

..
cyclic

tension

~M =08 % i

cyclic

torsion

YM /'~ =08 %

g
0,8 ~o
n~rnber of cyctes
0

100

200

300

[]
Fig. 8. Illustration of the cross-hardening effect for 316 SS: (a) straining path, (b) maximum equivalent stress over a cycle versus
number of cycles.

A. Benallal et aL / Cyclic hardening o]'316 stainless steel

349

400

300
uJ
JLU
~>'>
O 200
OO
4

50 cycles
I~
proportional path (45) ' -

50 cycles
proportional path (135)

.q~) 100

20
40
60
80
ACCUMULATED PLASTIC STRAIN (%)

100

120

Fig. 9. Illustration of the cross-hardening effect for 2024 AI alloy: (a) straining path, (b) maximum equivalent stress versus number of
cycles.

in-phase tension-torsion straining followed by a sequence with a phase displacement of 180 for the
second one.

STRALNHISTORY

L~ Ti~-I~_q I, Y : Y. '~" (~'-*)

--5 " I

~_

600

4. General responses under nonproportional Ioadings

This section is devoted to an analysis of how the
three phenomena described above are combined and
interact during complex straining pathS. It can be argued
indeed that the resulting behavior of 'the material is a
balance between hardening and softening. In the following, three complex tests are presented from which many
qualitative properties of the hardening and softening
under nonproportional loadings can be exhibited.

500"
cL

400-

,,

II

i iL
i

300

q alent

tress

l,

,,,,

2'.... :.!,;81

I
--CROSSnHARDENI NG

4.1. Out-of-phase sequential test

pIastlc stra;n

The first test presented herein was carried out on 316

stainless steel. The first sequence is a pure tension
straining. The next seven are elliptical paths in total
strain space, some with constant phaselag and variable
ratios of shear strain-axial strain amplitudes, the others
with variable phaselag and constant amplitudes ratios
(see fig. 10). It can be noted that not only the amount of
hardening increases with nonproportionality but also
the rate of this hardening. The last sequences are a
return to a pure tension test displaying incomplete
softening and a pure torsion loading where it must be
pointed out that the amount of cross hardening obtained is almost the same as that shown in fig. 8
although the levels of strain and the histories of loading
are different in the two tests.

o5&-?

~ 200
E

~E

o :~

100

o0

2'oo
Number of cycles

'
400

Fig. 10. Out-of-phase sequential test for 316 SS: Evolution of

the additional hardening and its rate with p and for elliptical paths. Subsequent softening and cross-hardening effects.

350

A. Benallal et aL / Cyclic hardening of 316 stainless steel

123

:7

9 8

IJ

I
,

500

.@

/43

,
r

400,.

300.

200.

Ep

100.

_ _ _
i=3

n=4

t 130

~ I
....

5;0.

--10'00.

~5'00.

+ - . ~ P(%/

.....

20o0.

Fig. 11. 'Star' test for 316 SS: (a) typical sequence, (b) evolution of the maximum equivalent stress over a cycle with the accumulated
plastic strain. For each sequence (,~:x) means that x cycles have been completed before the ninth sequence and ( ",~:y) means that
y cycles have been carried out after the ninth sequence. [ ] denotes the number of diameters completed in one cycle in a given
sequence.

4.2. "Star' test

The second complex test, again related to 316 stainless steel and described below, consists of nine sequences. Each of the eight first sequences, (i =
1, 2 . . . . . 8) is composed of n = 2 (i-1) diameters in total
strain space, equally distributed, as explained in fig.
l l a . During the loading, these diameters are completed
in one cycle. For instance, in the case of figure l l a , a
cycle of the loading path is O A O B O C O D O E O F O G O H O . N o t e that i = 1 corresponds to a proportional loading (pure tension was considered here). FinaUy, the last sequence is a circular out-of-phase test. In
the whole test the maximum equivalent strain was kept
constant and equal to 0.5%. We can see in fig. l l b that
after many cycles under pure tension, a large amount of
hardening with a bigger rate is obtained during sequence 2.
More hardening is observed in sequence 3, although
not very important and from sequence 4 up to 8 continuous softening occurs. If it is rather easy to consider
that the smaller the angle between two successive diameters the smaller the hardening (when this angle is
small, the loading can be almost considered as propor-

tional), it must be pointed out that the m a x i m u m of

hardening is obtained for an angle of 45 o. This is surely
an important result for the definition of the nonproportionality of a loading when looking to the development
of a constitutive model. Now, when considering sequence 9 a large amount of hardening is again obtained;
this additional hardening is the same as that obtained
directly under a circular path (fig. 2) or subsequent to
another strain history as for example in fig. 10. Finally,
when returning to sequences 8, after the circular path,
continuous softening occurs.

0.51

Fig. 12. Typical strain path sequence in stairs test.

351

A. Benallal et al. / Cyclic hardening of 316 stainless steel

Ql[/~~

/,~.~0//~

Q //~.~

<

~
--

-~50 ~4_--~

p,

128

64

32

16

Number
of s t a i r s

Fig. 13. 'Stairs' test for 316 SS: (a) Evolution of the equivalent stress with the accumulated plastic strain for the whole test. Fo~ each
sequence (/~ : x) means that x cycles have been completed before the circular path and ( "~ : y) means that y cycles were carried out
after. [ ] denotes the number of steps in a given sequence; (b) comparison of the transient stress responses for the nine first
sequences. For the sake of clearness, the plot of the loops is shifted after each sequence in the o direction.

4.3. "Stairs" test

The continuity between proportional and nonproportional loadings has been studied by means of a
'stairs' test: after stabilization under proportional
straining under combined tension-torsion with a maxim u m equivalent total strain equal to 0.5%, the material
is subjected to 8 sequences of stairs joining the ends of

this radial path. The first sequence is composed of 128

steps. In the others, this number is continuously divided
by 2 so that the last one contains only one step (see fig.
12). Within a sequence, a cycle of the loading path is
obtained by climbing the stairs up to the end of the
radial path, climbing down as far as the other end. For
instance in the case of the 4-step sequence, the loading
cycle is O A B C D C B A O E F G H G F E O as explained in

352

A. Benallal et al. / Cyclic hardening of 316 stainless steel

MPa

o
<
400

300

200

_><
~J

number of steps

100

o
o

50

100

150

200

250

ACCUMULATED

PLASTIC

STRAIN

-,

300

s eps

EL

(%)

[]

Fig. 14. 'Stairs' test for 2024 A1 alloy: (a) Evolution of the maximum equivalent stress over a cycle with the accumulated plastic strain
from the proportional sequence to the one stair sequence. For each sequence the maximum equivalent strain is equal to 0.75%. (b)
Comparison of the steady state loops for the nine sequences. For sake of clearness, the plot of the loops is shifted after each sequence
in the o direction.

fig. 12. Again the maximum equivalent total strain is

kept constant throughout all the test and set equal to
0.5%.
In fig. 13a, it can be clearly seen for 316 stainless
steel that non significant hardening occurs during sequences 2 to 7, leading to the fact that the continuity
between proportional and nonproportional loadings is
well verified. Additional hardening becomes very im-

portant only at the ninth sequence. More hardening is

obtained if the loading is extended to a square path and
it is again increased when going to a circular path. At
this stage, one can notice again that the amount of
additional hardening observed for this last path is again
the same as that obtained for the same path but through
different prestrain histories (figs. 2, 6 and 10) N o w if
the loading path is reversed (that is going from the

Table 1
Classification of nonproportional tests with respect to hardening

CYCLIC

~ROPORTIONAL PROFORTIONAI

STRAIN

PATHS

128 STEPS

32 STEPS

2 STEPS

340

380

330

330

330

270

270

270

290

350

350

360

370

e, 7/~3

1 STEP

plane

2 8RANCHES

4 BRANCHES

SQUARE

CIRCLE

350

370

570

590

420

I = 61 2024 AL

HARDENING

330

320

430

AT

500

THE

STEADY

510

530

STATE

( MPa )

A. Benallal et al. / Cyclic hardening of 316 stainless steel

circular path to the radial one through the same sequences) the material is seen to be continuously softenhag. Fig. 13b sketches the transient stress response for
each of the sequences. Figs. 14a and 14b present some
of the above results for the aluminium alloy.
It can also be noticed in fig. 11 how the rates of
hardening and softening abruptly j u m p at the beginning
of sequence 8: in the hardening part when going from
sequence 7 to 8 and in the softening part when going
from sequence 9 to 8.

5. Classification of nonproportional tests

In view of the above results and the tests carried out,

the following qualitative classification given in table 1 is
suggested. The tests are classified by increasing hardening. Of course, this classification is given for the same
maximum total equivalent strain. For a fixed value of
this strain, the shape of the path and the amount of
hardening attained are given. This classification can
help provide a definition of the nonproportionality of a
loading.

353

References

[1] H.S. Lamba and J. Sidebottom, Cycle plasticity under

nonproportional loadings, J. Eng. Mat. Teeh. 100 (1978)
96-103.
[2] K. Kanazawa, K.J. Miller and M.W. Brown, Cyclic deformation of 1% Cr. Mo, V steel under out-of-phase loads,
Fat. Eng. Mat. Struct. 2 (1979) 217-228.
[3] G. Cailletaud, H. Kaczmarek and H. Policella, Some elements on multiaxial behavior of 316 stainless steel at room
temperature, Mech. Mater. 3 (1984) 333-347.
[4] D.L. Mac DoweU and D.F. Socie, Transient and stable
deformation behavior under cyclic nonproportional loadings, in: K.J. Miller and M.W. Brown, eds., Biaxial-Multiaxial Fatigue, ASTM-STP 853 (1983) 64-87.
[5] E. Tanaka, S. Murakami and M. Ooka, Effects of strain
paths shapes on nonproportional cyclic plasticity, J. Mech.
Phys. Solids 33 (1986) 559-575.
[6] E. Krempl and H. Lu, The hardening and rate dependent
behavior of fully annealed AISI type 304 stainless steel
under biaxial in-phase and out-of-phase strain cycling at
room temperature, J. Eng. Mat. Tech. 106 (1984) 376-382.
[7] A. Benallal and D. Marquis, Constitutive equations for
cyclic nonproportional elasto-viscoplasticity, J. Eng. Mat.
Tech. 101 (1987) 326-336.