AbstractHigh temperature total endurance tests were conducted on three alloys (316L steel at 550°C; 9Cr–1Mo steel at 550°C; Nimonic 101 at 850°C) in low cycle fatigue under continuous cycling. The austenitic steel was observed to cyclically harden, whereas the ferritic steel and the superalloy both cyclically softened. Methods for rationalising evolutionary behaviour were variation of percentage hardening/softening with strain range, cumulative ductility criterion, variation of secant modulus in the hysteresis loops, and cumulative energy criterion. The energy expended per cycle appears to be the most attractive. For a given strain range this was approximately constant at any stage of evolution. More significantly, the cumulative energy at saturation was constant, approximately independent of total strain range, and about 0·5–3·0 J mm−3according to the material used. The Palmgren–Miner hypothesis (which is widely used in summing fatigue damage) was originally derived on an energy argument and it is proposed that calculations using values of absolute energy would have definite advantages.MST/1354