Effect of Electropulsing on the Fatigue Behavior and Change in the Austenite Steel Structure
The tests were carried out to identify the influence of electropulse treatment on austenite steel ((mass %) 0.44С, 16.50Mn, 0.26Cr, 0.08Ni, 0.34Si, 2.74Al, 0.002S, 0.017P, Fe – balance). The fa-tigue life is reported to increase by 1.8 times. Electron microscopic research into the dislocation structure of the steel was conducted under diverse fatigue conditions with the purpose to give rea-sons for the identified effect. The dislocation chaos substructure, reticular and fragmented dislocation substructures were found in the steel in the initial state. Fatiguing leads to the change in the dis-location substructure parameters. The subsequent electropulse treatment furthers transformation of the grain structure since grains arise and grow due to evolving local dynamic recrystallization and partial transformation of the dislocation substructure and occurrence of a great number of microtwins. The increase in the fatigue life is associated with the mentioned above transformations resulting from electropulse treatment of the steel structural state.