Ratcheting Behavior of SA508-3 Steel at Elevated Temperature: Experimental Observation and Simulation

A series of monotonic uniaxial tensile tests, strain-controlled and stress-controlled cyclic tests of SA508-3 steel were conducted from 25 to 350 °C. Results showed that the steel exhibited temperature-dependent cyclic softening characteristic and obvious ratcheting behavior, and dynamic strain aging was observed in the range of 250–350 °C. Based on experimental observations, a temperature-dependent cyclic plastic constitutive model was proposed by introducing the nonlinear cyclic softening and kinematic hardening rules, and the dynamic strain aging was also considered into the constitutive model. Comparisons between experiments and simulations were carried out to validate the proposed model at elevated temperature.