Fatigue Strain–Life Behavior of Austenitic Stainless Steels in Pressurized Water Reactor Environments

A statistical model for austenitic stainless steels for predicting the effect of pressurized water reactor environments on fatigue life for a range of temperatures and strain rates is developed based on analysis of available material data. The compiled fatigue curve data include not only results from America (Keller (1971), Conway (1975), Hale (1977), and Argonne National Laboratory (1999–2005)), but also from Europe (Solin (2006), Le Duff (2008–2010), De Baglion (2011, 2012), Huin (2013) …) and Japan (Kanasaki (1997)). Only fatigue data from polished specimens of wrought material tested under strain control were considered; hollow specimens were not treated herein. The fatigue life correction factor used in this paper was defined as the ratio of life in water at 300 °C (reference conditions) to that in water at service conditions. The model is recommended for predicting fatigue lives that are 10³–10⁵ cycles.