Effects of nitrogen on low-cycle fatigue properties of type 304L austenitic stainless steels tested with and without tensile strain hold

A quantitative analysis of the effects of nitrogen on high temperature low-cycle fatigue without and with tensile strain hold at 600 °C has been conducted for type 304L stainless steels. For better understanding of the role of nitrogen on grain boundary precipitation, the grain boundary segregation of nitrogen was analyzed by Auger electron spectroscopy. The nitrogen addition is found to give relatively better resistance to creep-fatigue than continuous low-cycle fatigue. This in turn improves the fatigue life. This is due to the retardation of the precipitation of carbides at the grain boundary and reduction in the density of grain boundary cavitation sites which are the main factor of grain boundary damage under creep-fatigue test.