Low cycle elastoplastic properties of normalised and tempered 42CrMo4 steel

In cyclically loaded structures, fatigue damage of material due to cyclic plasticity is one of the most frequent failure mechanisms. This paper describes the elastoplastic response of the material under a cyclic load by using a constitutive model for small deformations, which considers isotropic and kinematic hardening or softening with a description of material damage. It is shown how the described model can be used in normalised and tempered state of the low alloy steel 42CrMo4 (ISO 683/1 - of approximate composition, Fe - 0(.)43C - 1(.)07Cr - 0(.)19Ni - 0(.)16Mo-0(.)16Cu) to determine the parameters of a material even from a very low number of experiments (up to 10). Material endurance can be assessed by indirectly observing the change in the elasticity modulus.