Deformation and strain hardening behavior of powder metallurgical TRIP steel under quasi-static biaxial-planar loading

Abstract The present paper investigates a metastable austenitic stainless steel under different biaxial-planar load paths by using a cruciform specimen geometry. The material behavior was described by stress–strain curves and initial yield surface. Furthermore, the hardening behavior was determined by load sequence tests. To investigate the influence of the stress state on the martensite formation a ferrite sensor as well as electron backscatter diffraction measurements were used. Two cruciform specimen geometries were utilized and compared for the considered load cases. The stress state within the cruciform specimens was evaluated by an elastic unloading procedure with subsequent calculation of the stress components. Isotropic initial yielding and non-isotropic hardening were found. A recommendation for the use of the cruciform specimen geometry with respect to the load case is given.