Anelastic behaviour of materials under multiaxial strains

Data on Young's modulus and Poisson's ratio obtained in AISI-1080 steel, in the temperature region between about 300 and 600 K, are presented. The measurements have been performed in longitudinal excitation and several harmonics were used, to obtain Poisson's ratio from the measured resonant frequencies. The maximum observed in the temperature dependence of Young's modulus, for the fundamental resonant frequency, is attributed to a stress-induced disordering of carbon atoms in the octahedral interstices of the martensitic matrix. The increases of Young's modulus with temperature are described in terms of expressions deduced in the paper, which are based on Landau theory of second-order phase transitions. The critical temperature is related to theMs temperature which characterizes the martensitic phase transition. Finally, the temperature dependence of Poisson's ratio is described in terms of a theory of anelastic behaviour under multiaxial strains, based on the standard anelastic solid model.