The effects of martensitic transformation on the coaxing behavior were studied in
austenitic stainless steels. The materials used were austenitic stainless steels, type 304 and 316.
Conventional fatigue tests and stress-incremental fatigue tests were performed using specimens
subjected to several tensile prestrains from 5% to 60%. Under conventional tests, the fatigue
strengths of both steels increased with increasing prestrain. Under stress-incremental tests, 304 steel
showed a marked coaxing effect, where the failure stress significantly increased irrespective of
prestrain level. On the other hand, the coaxing effect in 316 steel decreased with increasing
prestrain up to 15%, where the failure stresses were nearly the same. Above this prestrain level, the
coaxing effect increased with increasing prestrain. In 304 steel, the coaxing effect is primarily
dominated by work hardening at low prestrains, while the effect of strain-induced martensitic
transformation increases with increasing prestrain. The coaxing effect in 316 steel is dominated by
both work hardening and strain aging at low prestrains, but strain-induced martensitic
transformation could play a significant role at high prestrains.