Temperature and Strain-Rate Dependent Characteristics of AISI 300 Series of Austenitic Stainless Steel

AISI 300 series austenite stainless steel tensile tests under cryogenic conditions were performed to determine the effect of strain-rate and cryogenic temperature. Four types of commercial austenitic stainless steels widely used in LNG applications, AISI 304L, 316L, 321 and 347, were tested. To analyse strain-rate and temperature dependency, material properties were compared quantitatively. Temperatures ranging from 110K to 293K and strain-rates ranging from 1.6E−4/sec to 1.0E−2/sec have been studied as test conditions. From the test results, both strain-rate and temperature have substantial effect on material properties such as strength and elongation. The experimental results could be used to validate numerical techniques for tested materials as well as structures in cryogenic environment.