Experimental investigation of the time and temperature dependent growth of fatigue cracks in Inconel 718 and mechanism based lifetime prediction

The following contribution deals with the growth of cracks in low-cycle fatigue (LCF) and thermomechanical fatigue (TMF) tested specimens of Inconel 718 measured by using the replica method. The specimens are loaded with different strain rates. The material shows a significantly higher crack growth rate if the strain rate is decreased. Electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) is adopted to identify the failure mechanism and the misorientation relationship of failed grain boundaries in secondary cracks. The analyzed cracks propagated mainly transgranular but also intergranular failure can be observed in some areas. It is found that grain boundaries with coincidence site lattice (CSL) boundary structure are generally less susceptible for intergranular failure than grain boundaries with random misorientation. For modeling the experimentally identified crack behavior an existing model for fatigue crack growth based on the mechanism of time dependent elastic–plastic crack tip blunting is enhanced to describe environmental effects based on the mechanism of oxygen diffusion at the crack tip. For the diffusion process the temperature dependent parabolic diffusion law is assumed. As a result, the time dependent cyclic crack tip opening displacement (DCTOD) is used as representative value to describe both mechanisms. Thus, most of the included model parameters characterize the deformation behavior of the material and can be determined by independent material tests. With the determined material properties, the proposed model describes the experimentally measured crack growth curves very well. The model is validated based on predictions of the number of cycles to failure of LCF as well as in-phase and out-of-phase TMF tests in the temperature range between room temperature and 650 °C

Fatigue life assessment of hot work tools – an overview of the state of research and application Authors

Warmumformwerkzeuge unterliegen während des Betriebes komplexen thermischen und mechanischen Beanspruchungen. In kritischen Bereichen können dadurch lokal Spannungen entstehen, die die Fließgrenze überschreiten. Bei der Serienproduktion führt dies zu zyklischen plastischen Verformungen und zur thermomechanischen Ermüdung, welche die Lebensdauer der Warmumformwerkzeuge maßgeblich bestimmen kann. Zur Bewertung der thermomechanischen Ermüdung der Warmumformwerkzeuge gibt es jedoch heute keine etablierten Konzepte, da dieser Aspekt erst durch die Notwendigkeit einer höheren Ressourcen- und Energieeffizienz und optimierter Produktionsprozesse (beispielsweise im Rahmen von Industrie 4.0) eine höhere Aufmerksamkeit erreicht. In dieser Arbeit wird zum einen die aktuell industriell angewandte Vorgehensweise zur Auslegung von Warmumformwerkzeugen hinsichtlich der Lebensdauer erläutert. Des Weiteren wird ein Überblick über existierende Plastizitätsmodelle und Lebensdauermodelle gegeben. Dabei wird zwischen rein phänomenologischen und mechanismenbasierten Modellen unterschieden. Aus der betriebenen Recherche wird ersichtlich, dass weiterer Forschungsbedarf auf diesem Gebiet notwendig ist

Lifetime Assessment of Cylinder Heads for Efficient Heavy Duty Engines Part II: Component-Level Application of Advanced Models for Thermomechanical Fatigue Life Prediction of Lamellar Graphite Cast Iron GJL250 and Vermicular Graphite Cast Iron GJV450 Cylinder Heads

A complete thermomechanical fatigue (TMF) life prediction methodology is developed for predicting the TMF life of cast iron cylinder heads for efficient heavy duty internal combustion engines. The methodology uses transient temperature fields as thermal loads for the non-linear structural finite-element analysis (FEA). To obtain reliable stress and strain histories in the FEA for cast iron materials, a time and temperature dependent plasticity model which accounts for viscous effects, non-linear kinematic hardening and tensioncompression asymmetry is required. For this purpose a unified elasto-viscoplastic Chaboche model coupled with damage is developed and implemented as a user material model (USERMAT) in the general purpose FEA program ANSYS. In addition, the mechanismbased DTMF model for TMF life prediction developed in Part I of the paper is extended to three-dimensional stress states under transient non-proportional loading conditions. The material properties of the plasticity model are determined for lamellar graphite cast iron GJL250 and vermicular graphite cast iron GJV450 from isothermal and non-isothermal uniaxial tests. The methodology is applied to obtain a TMF life prediction on two cast iron cylinder heads for heavy duty diesel engine applications made from both cast iron materials. It is shown that the life predictions using the developed methodology correlate very well with observed lives from two bench tests in terms of location as well as number of cycles to failure

Constitutive Modeling and Thermomechanical Fatigue Life Predictions of A356-T6 Aluminum Cylinder Heads Considering Ageing Effects

Cast aluminum alloys are frequently used as materials for cylinder head applications in internal combustion gasoline engines. These components must withstand severe cyclic mechanical and thermal loads throughout their lifetime. Reliable computational methods allow for accurate estimation of stresses, strains, and temperature fields and lead to more realistic Thermomechanical Fatigue (TMF) lifetime predictions. With accurate numerical methods, the components could be optimized via computer simulations and the number of required bench tests could be reduced significantly. These types of alloys are normally optimized for peak hardness from a quenched state that maximizes the strength of the material. However due to high temperature exposure, in service or under test conditions, the material would experience an over-ageing effect that leads to a significant reduction in the strength of the material. To numerically account for ageing effects, the Shercliff & Ashby ageing model is combined with a Chaboche-type viscoplasticity model available in the finite-element program ABAQUS by defining field variables. The constitutive model with ageing effects is correlated with uniaxial cyclic isothermal tests in the T6 state, the overaged state, as well as thermomechanical tests. On the other hand, the mechanism-based TMF damage model (DTMF) is calibrated for both T6 and over-aged state. Both the constitutive and the damage model are applied to a cylinder head component simulating several cycles on an engine dynamometer test. The effects of including ageing for both models are shown

A Mechanism-Based Thermomechanical Fatigue Life Assessment Method for High Temperature Engine Components with Gradient Effect Approximation

High temperature components in internal combustion engines and exhaust systems must withstand severe mechanical and thermal cyclic loads throughout their lifetime. The combination of thermal transients and mechanical load cycling results in a complex evolution of damage, leading to thermomechanical fatigue (TMF) of the material. Analytical tools are increasingly employed by designers and engineers for component durability assessment well before any hardware testing. The DTMF model for TMF life prediction, which assumes that micro-crack growth is the dominant damage mechanism, is capable of providing reliable predictions for a wide range of high-temperature components and materials in internal combustion engines. Thus far, the DTMF model has employed a local approach where surface stresses, strains, and temperatures are used to compute damage for estimating the number of cycles for a small initial defect or micro-crack to reach a critical length. In the presence of significant gradients of stresses, strains, and temperatures, the use of surface field values could lead to very conservative estimates of TMF life when compared with reported lives from hardware testing. As an approximation of gradient effects, a non-local approach of the DTMF model is applied. This approach considers through-thickness fields where the micro-crack growth law is integrated through the thickness considering these variable fields. With the help of software tools, this method is automated and applied to components with complex geometries and fields. It is shown, for the TMF life prediction of a turbocharger housing, that the gradient correction using the non-local approach leads to more realistic life predictions and can distinguish between surface cracks that may arrest or propagate through the thickness and lead to component failure