Abstract
The change in fatigue strength due to the mean stress and root causes of the change were investigated for Type 316 stainless steel. 20% cold worked specimens were subjected to stress controlled fatigue tests under the mean stress in air at room temperature. Although the mean stress tended to show a beneficial effect on the fatigue life under the same stress amplitude, it had a detrimental effect under the same effective strain range. It was shown that the reduction in fatigue life was brought about by ratcheting deformation during the fatigue tests.
