The effect of thermal cycling on the high-temperature creep behaviour of a single crystal nickel-based superalloy

Isothermal and thermal cycling creep behaviours of a single crystal nickel-based superalloy have been studied by means of tensile tests at 1150 °C and 80 MPa. We have demonstrated that thermal cycling creep rates are faster than isothermal creep rates and that lifetimes at high temperatures are shorter for creep tests under thermal cycling conditions. Furthermore, it is shown that thermal cycling creep lifetime increases as the thermal cycle frequency decreases

Measurement of local creep properties in stainless steel welds

A high temperature measurement system for creep deformation based on the digital image correlation (DIC) technique is described. The new system is applied to study the behaviour of a multi-pass welded joint in a high temperature tensile test and a load controlled creep test at 545°C. Spatially resolved tensile properties and time dependent creep deformation properties across a thick section type 316 stainless steel multi-pass welded joint are presented and discussed. Significantly lower creep strain rates are observed in the HAZ than in the parent material which is attributed to the introduction of substantial plastic strain in the parent material on initial loading. The weld metal shows the fastest creep rates and a variation that appear to correlate with individual weld passes. The visual information provides not only the local creep strain distribution but also the reduction of area and true stress distribution based on strains measured in the transverse direction. The results demonstrate the capability of the DIC technique for full field measurement of displacement and strain at high temperature long term creep tests

Novel direct method on the life prediction of component under high temperature-creep fatigue conditions

This paper presents a novel direct method, within the Linear Matching Method (LMM) framework, for the direct evaluation of steady state cyclic behaviour of structures subjected to high temperature – creep fatigue conditions. The LMM was originally developed for the evaluation of shakedown and ratchet limits. The latest extension of the LMM makes it capable of predicting the steady state stress strain solutions of component subjected to cyclic thermal and mechanical loads with creep effects. The proposed iterative method directly calculates the creep stress and cyclically enhanced creep strain during the dwell period for the assessment of the creep damage, and also creep enhanced total strain range for the assessment of fatigue damage of each load cycle. To demonstrate the efficiency and applicability of the method to assess the creep fatigue damage, two types of weldments subjected to reverse bending moment at elevated temperature of 550C are simulated by the proposed method considering a Ramberg-Osgood model for plastic strains under saturated cyclic conditions and a power-law model in “time hardening” form for creep strains during the dwell period. Further experimental validation shows that the proposed direct method provides a general purpose technique for the creep fatigue damage assessment with creep fatigue interaction

Plastic pre-compression and creep damage effects on the fracture toughness behaviour of Type 316H stainless steel

The influence of inelastic damage in the form of plastic pre-strain and creep damage, on fracture toughness of Type 316H stainless steel has been examined. Creep damage has been introduced into the 8% pre-compressed material by interrupting creep crack growth tests. Comparisons have been made between the fracture toughness test results from the as-received, pre-compressed and creep damaged materials. Furthermore, the effects of creep crack discontinuities on the crack tip strain fields have been examined by digital image correlation measurements. Inelastic damage was found to reduce the fracture toughness of the material, with creep damage having more severe effects than pre-strain

Combined creep and plastic analysis with numerical methods

The combination of plastic and creep analysis formulation are developed in this paper. The boundary element method and the finite element method are applied in plates in order to do the numerical analysis. This new approach is developed to combine the constitutive equation for time hardening creep and the constitutive equation for plasticity, which is based on the von Mises criterion and the Prandtl-Reuss flow. The implementation of creep strain in the formulation is achieved through domain integrals. The creep phenomenon takes place in the domain which is discretized into quadratic quadrilateral continuous and discontinuous cells. The creep analysis is applied to metals with a power law creep for the secondary creep stage. Results obtained for three models studied are compared to those published in the literature. The obtained results are in good agreement and evinced that the Boundary Element Method could be a suitable tool to deal with combined nonlinear problems

Creep behavior of tungsten/niobium and tungsten/niobium-1 percent zirconium composites

The creep behavior and microstructural stability of tungsten fiber reinforced niobium and niobium 1 percent zirconium was determined at 1400 and 1500 K in order to assess the potential of this material for use in advanced space power systems. The creep behavior of the composite materials could be described by a power law creep equation. A linear relationship was found to exist between the minimum creep rate of the composite and the inverse of the composite creep rupture life. The composite materials had an order of magnitude increase in stress to achieve 1 percent creep strain and in rupture strength at test temperatures of 1400 and 1500 K compared to unreinforced material. The composite materials were also stronger than the unreinforced materials by an order of magnitude when density was taken into consideration. Results obtained on the creep behavior and microstructural stability of the composites show significant potential improvement in high temperature properties and mass reduction for space power system components

Creep and tensile behaviour of austenitic Fe–Cr–Ni stainless steels

The control of creep behaviour during service of reformer tubes made of HP-40 austenitic stainless steels is still limited by the knowledge of creep mechanisms in these alloys. Two different HP-40 alloys modified with a low-level addition ofNbwere studied. Creep testswere carried out at 980 and 1050 ◦C with different stress levels, in the range of 20–50MPa, and their resultswere plotted in a Norton-type diagram. Also, low strain rate tensile tests were performed at temperature of 950, 980 or 1000 ◦C. As low strain rate tensile tests showed a plateau at nearly constant stress for a given strain rate, they could be somehow linked with creep tests. Accordingly, tensile and creep results were plotted together on a Larson–Miller (LMP) diagram. The fracture modes of tensile and creep samples were investigated and the effect of different parameters such as sample dimensions, temperature and atmosphere, was also studied

Stress redistribution due to creep in nimonic 90 ministry of aviation contract no. PD/28/021 report for the period January 1964 - June 1965: part 1

The period covered by this report has been devoted to the design, construction development and calibration of a special apparatus to simulate the stress redistribution conditions occurring during the creep of a cooled turbine blade. The experimental assembly consists of two creep machines, each operating at a different temperature, so controlled that a load is shared between them. maintaining equal creep strains (and in consequence equal creep rates) in each specimen. The stress in each specimen and the creep strain of the pair are automatically measured and recorded by a specially developed unit. Some preliminary results on an aluminium alloy are presented

Linear matching method on the evaluation of cyclic behaviour with creep effect

This paper describes a new Linear Matching Method (LMM) technique for the direct evaluation of cyclic behaviour with creep effects of structures subjected to a general load condition in the steady cyclic state. The creep strain and plastic strain range for use in creep damage and fatigue assessments, respectively, are obtained. A benchmark example of a Bree cylinder subjected to cyclic thermal load and constant mechanical load is analysed to verify the applicability of the new LMM to deal with the creep fatigue damage. The cyclic responses for different loading conditions and dwell time periods within the Bree boundary are obtained. To demonstrate the efficiency and effectiveness of the method for more complex structures, a 3D holed plate subjected to cyclic thermal loads and constant axial tension is analysed. The results of both examples show that with the presence of creep the cyclic responses change significantly. The new LMM procedure provides a general purpose technique for the evaluation of cyclic behaviour, the plastic strain range and creep strain for the creep fatigue damage assessment with creep fatigue interaction