Experimental and Numerical Investigations of the TRIP Effect in 1.4301Austenitic Stainless Steel Under Static Loading

The TRIP effect enhances the work hardening behavior of steel and provides high strength and high ductility. In the design of TRIP-assisted steel components based on numerical simulation, the TRIP effect must be considered to ensure a reliable stress analysis. The influence of the TRIP effect on the properties of the 1.4301 austenitic stainless steel was studied experimentally and numerically in order to evaluate the ability of a phase transformation model to quantitatively describe the TRIP effect for various loading conditions. Uniaxial tensile tests were carried out at different strain rates. During plastic deformation stress increased significantly indicating phase transformation. The martensite volume fraction was determined in situ using a ferritescope. The influence of temperature on the martensite formation was analyzed at different strain rates using a thermo camera. The experimentally characterized deformation behavior of the tested steel was simulated using a model based on Olson and Cohen approach, which was implemented as UHARD subroutine in the ABAQUS software. The phase transformation was simulated for two different specimen geometries under quasi-static conditions.