Experimental investigation on cyclic deformation behaviour of primary heat transport piping materials: Masing analysis of hysteresis loops

In this work, the hysteresis loops of 304LN stainless steel at various strain amplitudes obtained via multi specimen, incremental and decremental load schemes were analysed for their Masing behaviour. In all the loading schemes, the material showed a non-Masing behaviour. A probabilistic density approach is used to examine the variation of yield during cyclic deformation. It is noted that yield level increased with increasing strain amplitude in all the test methods. The change in yield level is attributed to the microstructural changes in the material. Variation in microstructure and yield are thought to be responsible for the non-Masing behaviour of 304LN stainless steel.