The stress relaxation and creep behaviour of a manganese-stabilized austenitic stainless steel

The stress relaxation behaviour of 21–4N, a manganese-stabilized austenitic stainless steel, is investigated in terms of the metallurgical state, the application of multiple strain levels during ‘stepped’ stress relaxation testing at 700 °C, the strain level during isostrain stress relaxation tests at 538 °C and 700 °C, and the correspondence with results from constant-load creep tests. The results indicate that for isostrain stress relaxation tests the stress relaxation rate is similar for strains that span both elastic and plastic strain levels. A transition in the stress relaxation behaviour occurs at a stress level approximately equivalent to the tensile stress–strain proportional limit; below this transition the stress–strain rate relationship, or the time predicted for 1 per cent creep strain, obeys a creep power law type of equation. Stress relaxation testing successfully delineates the difference between the creep resistances of two different metallurgical conditions with similar tensile propertie...