Fatigue Life Assessment and Modelling of the Cyclic Material Behaviour of a High-Strength Martensitic Steel

Current efforts in lightweight design require the use of increasingly high strength steels. The superior characteristics (high strength and high ductility) of martensitic steels are ideally suited for sophisticated applications, but these steels show a cyclic material behaviour that is difficult to describe with conventional material models. Due to the importance of an accurate simulation of mechanically loaded components for a valid design process, the material model must represent the cyclic material behaviour very precisely. Influencing factors such as residual stresses, elevated temperature, mean strain or irregular load history require a well-verified cyclic material model and lifetime model.