An experimental study was carried out for the cyclic behavior of U71Mn rail steel and 316L stainless steel subjected to uniaxial
strain and stress cycling at room temperature. The effects of cyclic strain
amplitude, mean strain and their loading histories on the strain cyclic characteristics were studied. In the meantime, the effects of stress amplitude, mean stress and their histories on the
ratcheting of the asymmetrical stress cycling were also analyzed. The interaction of strain cycling and stress cycling was discussed, too. In the study, the strain cyclic behavior and ratcheting of the two steels were compared especially. The results show that, under the strain cycling, U71Mn rail steel features almost no cyclic hardening or softening and its strain cyclic characteristics hardly depend on the loading history. However, 316L stainless steel characterizes significantly cyclic hardening and its strain cyclic characteristics depends not only on current load case, but also greatly on the load history. 316L stainless steel has an obvious memorization for the maximum strain amplitude of the load history. These phenomena must be taken into account in the constitutive modeling. The mean strain and its history have almost no effect on the strain cyclic behaviors of the two researched metals. Ratcheting is a special characteristic of the material presented in the asymmetrical stress cycling. Under the stress cycling, the ratcheting behaviors of the two metals depend not only on current load case, but also on the previous history. The ratcheting strain and its rate increase with the increase of mean stress and stress amplitude. The prior higher mean stress and stress amplitude cycling can restrain the ratcheting behavior of subsequent lower mean stress and stress amplitude cycling. A prior stress cycling results in not only a mean strain in the subsequent strain cycling, but also some variation of strain cyclic properties. After the prior stress cycling, U71Mn rail steel presents obvious cyclic softening, but 316L stainless steel still presents cyclic hardening. However, a prior strain cycling restrains the ratcheting behavior of subsequent stress cycling for the two metals. The ratcheting strain rates of the materials in stress cycling without prior strain cycling are higher than that with prior strain cycling. These conclusions are useful to establish constitutive model for the cyclic behavior of the materials.