Journal of Advanced Materials in Engineering (Esteghlal)

Age hardening processes cause a wide range of changes in 17-4 PH stainless steel properties. Aging at 480ºC for 1 hour (A480-1) and aging at 620ºC for 4 hours (A620-4) are two most applicable heat treatment processes for this alloy. Not only the studies on fatigue behavior of this alloy in these two heat treatment conditions are few, but also the methods of fatigue test were mostly axial. In this study, after microstructure studies, hardness and tension tests, fatigue behavior at A480-1 and A620-4 conditions were evaluated by using a rotational bending fatigue test machine. Tension results showed that yield strength and ultimate tensile strength of A480-1 specimens were 40 percent more than A620-4 specimens. However, elongation of A620-4 specimens was 30 percent more than A480-1 specimens. Fatigue results revealed the endurance limit of aged specimens is 50 MPa more than overaged specimens. Overall results showed that A480-1 condition specimens are more resistant to fatigue than A620-4 condition specimens.