Low cycle fatigue testing of 429EM stainless steel pipe

There are several difficulties in axial testing of pipe because of its geometrical features, such as hollow section and thin wall. Gripping of the pipe may distort the cross section and buckling may arise when axial compressive loading is applied. A cyclic tension-compression testing method for thin walled pipe was developed to avoid distortion of the cross section. The buckling condition for thin-walled pipe under monotonic and cyclic loading was determined using theoretical and numerical approaches and verified by experiment. Cyclic deformation behavior and low cycle fatigue resistance were determined successfully from pipe specimens. The intended application for this research is the manufacturing, design, and service use of stainless steel pipe in automotive exhaust systems.