Impression creep behavior of Al–1.9%Ni–1.6%Mn–1%Mg alloy

In the present study, microstructure and creep behavior of an Al–1.9%Ni–1.6%Mn–1%Mg alloy were studied at temperature ranging from 493 to 513 K and under stresses between 420 and 530 MPa. The creep test was carried out by impression creep technique in which a flat ended cylindrical indenter was impressed on the specimens. The results showed that microstructure of the alloy is composed of primary α(Al) phase covered by a mantle of α(Al)+Ni₃Al intermetallic compound. Mn segregated into Al_xMn_yNi_z or Al₆Mn phases distributed inside the matrix phase. It was found that the stress exponent, n, decreases from 5.2 to 3.6 with increasing temperature. Creep activation energies between 115 kJ/mol and 151 kJ/mol were estimated for the alloy and it decreases with rising stress. According to the stress exponent and creep activation energies, the lattice and pipe diffusion- climb controlled dislocation creep were the dominant creep mechanism.     

Modeling and experimental study of long term creep damage in austenitic stainless steels

One of the main challenges for some reactors components in austenitic stainless steels at high temperature in-service conditions is the demonstration of their behavior up to 60 years. The creep lifetimes of these stainless steels require on the one hand to carry out very long term creep tests and on the other hand to understand and to model the damage mechanisms in order to propose physically-based predictions toward 60 years of service. Different batches of austenitic stainless steels like-type 316L with low carbon and closely specified nitrogen content, 316L(N), are subjected to numerous creep tests carried out at various stresses and temperatures between 525 °C and 700 °C up to nearly 50 • 10³ h.Interrupted creep tests show an acceleration of the creep deformation only during the last 15% of creep lifetime, which corresponds to macroscopic necking. The modeling of necking using the Norton viscoplastic power-law allows lifetime predictions in fair agreement with experimental data up to a transition time of about ten thousand hours which is temperature dependent. In fact, one experimental result together with literature ones, shows that the extrapolation of the ‘stress–lifetime’ curves obtained at high stress data leads to large overestimations of lifetimes at low stress. After FEG–SEM observations, these overestimates are mainly due to additional intergranular cavitation as often observed in many metallic materials in the long term creep regime. The modeling of cavity growth by vacancy diffusion along grain boundaries coupled with continuous nucleation proposed by Riedel is carried out. For each specimen, ten FEG–SEM images (about 250 observed grains) are analyzed to determine the rate of cavity nucleation assumed to be constant during each creep test in agreement with many literature results. This measured constant rate is the only measured parameter which is used as input of the Riedel damage model. Lifetimes for long term creep are rather fairly well evaluated by the lowest lifetime predicted by the necking model and the Riedel model predictions. This holds for experimental lifetimes up to 200,000 h and for temperatures between 525 °C and 700 °C. A transition time as well as a transition stress is defined by the intersection of the lifetime curves predicted by the necking and Riedel modelings. This corresponds to the change in damage mechanism. The scatter in lifetimes predicted by the Riedel model induced by the uncertainty of some parameter values is less than a factor of three, similar to experimental scatter. This model is also validated for various other austenitic stainless steels such as 304H, 316H, 321H (creep rupture data provided by NIMS). A transition from power-law to viscous creep deformation regime is reported in the literature at 650 °C–700 °C for steel 316H. Taking into account the low stress creep rate law, it allows us to predict lifetimes up to 200,000 h at very high temperature in fair agreement with experimental data.     

Creep deformation and rupture behavior of Alloy 617

A series of creep data was obtained from creep tests at different applied stresses at the temperatures of 850 °C, 900 °C, and 950 °C for Alloy 617, which is a leading candidate material for high-temperature components in Gen-IV nuclear reactor systems. The creep deformation and rupture behavior were investigated in terms of Norton's power law, Monkman–Grant relation (MGR), modified Monkman–Grant relation (MMGR), creep damage tolerance factor (λ), Zener–Hollomon Parameter (Z), and fracture behavior. Alloy 617 did not exhibit textbook creep behavior and revealed somewhat differences from typical heat resistant steels. The MMGR provided improved correlation between creep rate and rupture life in Alloy 617. The Z parameter obeyed a good agreement for a function of Z = 2.30 × 10³³ (σ/E)^5.87, and the same creep mechanism was operative within the ranges tested in the present study. The value of λ for Alloy 617 was found to be 2.40, and this was in agreement with materials exhibiting typical cavitation damage. The creep failure analysis revealed a dominant intergranular fracture mode, which proceeds via initiation, linking, and incorporation of the cavities.     

Effect of overheating temperature on the microstructure and creep behavior of HP40Nb alloy

HP40Nb alloy has been widely used as a high temperature material in petrochemical plants. However, overheating or local temperature excursion occurs occasionally in service and leads to serious damage on the material. Effect of temperature on the microstructure and creep performance of the HP40Nb alloy is investigated in the present work. Several specimens are cut from serviced components of the alloy and heat-treated at different temperatures from 900 °C to 1250 °C for its possible working conditions, in which the temperature of 1200 or 1250 °C is used to simulate the overheating condition of HP40Nb tubes. The microstructure of specimens is examined by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and transmission electron microscope (TEM). The creep behavior is evaluated through using impression creep tests with a flat-ended cylindrical indenter. The content of inter- and intra-dendritic carbides in the specimens is represented by the surface fraction of each phase, which has been estimated by image processing method. The results show that the total of the surface fraction of inter- and intra-dendritic carbides in the HP40Nb alloy does not significantly change at the temperature lower than 1100 °C. However, the surface fraction of inter-dendritic carbides reaches the maximum at 1100 °C. A maximal steady state impression rate is also observed at 1100 °C. The results suggest that the content of inter-dendritic carbides is the main influencing factor on the creep performance of HP40Nb alloys comparing with that of the intra-dendritic carbides.     

Improvement of optical properties of Nd:YAG transparent ceramics by post-annealing and post hot isostatic pressing

The Nd:YAG transparent ceramics were fabricated by vacuum sintering. The Nd:YAG samples were annealed at 1450 °C for 20 h in air and followed by hot isostatic pressing (HIP) at 1700 °C for 2 h in 200 MPa Ar and then re-annealed at 1250–1450 °C for 10 h in air. The experimental results showed that the optical properties of Nd:YAG samples varied markedly with different post treatments. After air annealing at 1450 °C for 20 h and HIP at 1700 °C for 2 h under 200 MPa of Ar and then air re-annealing at 1250 °C for 10 h, the transmittances of the samples increased from 51.2% to 77.2% (at 400 nm) and 78.4% to 83.6% (at 1064 nm), respectively. The annealing and HIP are effective post treatments to reduce oxygen vacancies and intergranular pores respectively in Nd:YAG transparent ceramics.     

Information relevant for the design of structure: Ferritic – Heat resistant high chromium steel X10CrAlSi25

In order to determine the behavior of the X10CrAlSi25 steel at room and elevated temperatures, a number of uniaxial tests were performed using a modern computer controlled material testing machine. Based on these tests, two types of their responses were considered. The first type of responses refers to the material properties presented in the form of engineering stress–strain diagrams. From these diagrams it is possible to derive and consequently to determine tensile strength, yield strength and a Modulus of elasticity. The second type of responses refers to creep behavior presented in the form of creep curves. Based on these curves, creep resistance of the considered material can be derived. Besides, the Charpy impact tests were performed with a Charpy impact machine to define Charpy impact energy as the basis for calculating fracture toughness. Considering tensile strength (584 MPa/20 °C) and yield strength (487 MPa/20 °C), it is visible that both of them are decreased when temperature is increased and fairly low strength levels at high temperature (tensile strength: 29 MPa/800 °C; yield strength: 26 MPa/800 °C) are measured. According to performed creep tests it is visible that this material does not belong to the materials resistant to creep.     

Impression creep behavior of a cast MRI153 magnesium alloy

Creep behavior of a cast MRI153 magnesium alloy was investigated using impression creep technique. The tests were carried out under constant punching stress in the range of 360–600 MPa at temperatures between 425 and 490 K. Microstructure of the alloy was composed of α(Mg) matrix phase besides Mg₁₇Al₁₂ and Al₂Ca intermetallic compounds. Stress exponent of minimum creep rate, n, was found to vary between 6.45 and 7. Calculation of the activation energy showed a slight decrease with increasing stress such that the creep activation energy of 115.2 kJ/mol under σ_imp/G = 0.030 decreased to 99.5 kJ/mol under σ_imp/G = 0.040. The obtained stress exponent and activation energy data suggested that the pipe diffusion dislocation climb controlled creep as the dominant mechanism during the creep test.     

Investigation of the compressive creep behavior of AZ91D magnesium alloy

The creep resistance of AZ91D alloy has been studied in uniaxial compression tests at temperature ranges from 275 °C to 325 °C. The initial microstructure of the alloy consists of α phase and β phase precipitated in the grain boundary. The minimum creep rate dependence on applied stress and the temperature is also analyzed in detail. We find that the stress exponent n is close to the theoretical values (3 or 5) and the activation energy Q for creep varies from 121 kJ/mol to 171 kJ/mol. Creep could be controlled by high-temperature climb and cross-slip of dislocation at different temperatures.     

Effects of steam environment on creep behavior of Nextel™720/alumina–mullite ceramic composite at elevated temperature

The tensile creep behavior of an oxide–oxide continuous fiber ceramic composite was investigated at 1000 and 1100 °C in laboratory air and in steam. The composite consists of a porous alumina–mullite matrix reinforced with laminated, woven mullite/alumina (Nextel?720) fibers, has no interface between the fiber and matrix, and relies on the porous matrix for flaw tolerance. The tensile stress–strain behavior was investigated and the tensile properties measured. Tensile creep behavior was examined for creep stresses in the 70–140 MPa range. The presence of steam accelerated creep rates and dramatically reduced creep lifetimes. The degrading effects of steam become more pronounced with increasing temperature. At 1000 °C, creep run-out (set to 100 h) was achieved in all tests. At 1100 °C, creep run-out was achieved in all tests in air and only in the 87.5 MPa test in steam. Composite microstructure, as well as damage and failure mechanisms were investigated.     

A study on preparation of Mo–0.6Ti–0.2Zr–0.02C alloy by mechanical alloying and hot isostatic pressing,and its characterization

Mo–0.6Ti–0.2Zr–0.1C alloy was prepared by mechanical alloying (MA) and subsequently consolidated by powder processing techniques. The pellets prepared from the fine size MA powder showed a high rate of densification during sintering in the temperature range of 1300–1500 °C. Close to theoretical density was attained by hot isostatic pressing (HIP) at 1250 °C and TEM studies revealed the uniform distribution of complex carbide precipitates (<100 nm) in the fine grain microstructure of the consolidated alloy. The alloy consolidated by HIP showed a high hardness of the order of 500 HK due to the presence of the carbides in the fine grain microstructure.     

Creep behavior of nanostructured Mg alloy at ambient and low temperature

Tensile creep test at temperature <0.35 T_m was carried out to investigate the creep behavior in nanostructured Mg alloy with an average grain size of 45 nm consolidated from mechanically alloyed powders using power creep law. The stress exponent is found to be larger than one and with a threshold stress. The activation energy for the creep is measured to be 76 kJ mol⁻¹ smaller than that for grain boundary diffusion in Mg. It is deduced that creep behavior is affected by the presence of impurities and nanovoids inherited from the processing history.     

The influence of cryostructure on the creep behavior of ice-rich permafrost

Unconfined constant stress creep (CSC) tests were performed in order to look at the influence of cryostructure on the creep behavior of ice-rich undisturbed permafrost soils and remolded frozen soils within the temperature range from − 1 °C to − 2 °C. Undisturbed ice-rich permafrost soils were sampled from a Pleistocene age yedoma or “ice-complex” permafrost deposit in Interior Alaska. Cryostructure or the pattern of ice inclusions within a frozen soil is a direct indicator of the geologic and cryogenic genesis of permafrost soils. The data indicate that cryostructure influences the creep behavior of permafrost soils. Undisturbed soils with massive cryostructure showed higher induced creep strains and minimum strain rates than the more ice-rich undisturbed soils. Remolded soils with massive cryostructure experienced significantly lower creep strains and lower strain rates than the undisturbed soils. Deformation rates increase rapidly above a threshold stress value for remolded soils. From an engineering viewpoint, use of creep rates from remolded soils is non conservative and under predicts the creep rates of undisturbed soils. The orientation of ice lenses can facilitate motion along the ice lens–soil contact. Similarly, folding of ice lenses may occur, thus inducing anisotropic lateral strains. The ice facies tested indicate that for the temperature and stress range tested, ice creeps at a slower rate than frozen soils.     

Study of stress relaxation in polytetrafluoroethylene composites by cylindrical macroindentation

In the present work, the time-dependent mechanical behavior of three materials from the fluorocarbon family, including PTFE without filler, 15 vol.% regenerated graphite particles-filled PTFE, and 32 vol.% carbon and 3 vol.% graphite particles-filled PTFE, was investigated using cylindrical macroindentation. Indentation relaxation experiments with a cylindrical flat-tip indenter having a diameter of 1 mm were performed at three different strain levels. The generalized Maxwell model in terms of the Prony series and a time-dependent solution based on the power-law creep equation were used to model the viscoelastic response and to extract the time-dependent properties. The stress relaxation properties were found to improve with the addition of fillers. The unfilled PTFE exhibited the lowest stress–relaxation properties, whereas the 32 vol.% carbon and 3 vol.% graphite particles-filled PTFE composite showed the highest stress–relaxation properties.     

Temperature effects on creep behavior of continuous fiber GMT composites

The effects of temperature on the tensile creep of continuous random fiber glass mat thermoplastic composite (GMT) have been studied following an accelerated characterization procedure. The objectives of this work are twofold. First, is to obtain a long-term creep model using time–temperature superposition (TTS) that can represent behavior within the linear viscoelastic regime (up to 20 MPa) at room temperature. The second is to develop a non-linear viscoelastic model that accounts for a wide range of stresses and temperatures. Creep and recovery tests were carried out for a stress range between 20 and 60 MPa over a temperature range of room temperature to 90 °C. TTS was applied to obtain a master curve which was curve fitted to a nine-term Prony series. It was found that material generally behaved non-linearly for all stresses and temperature. For stresses up to 50 MPa, the non-linear viscoelastic behavior due to temperature can be reasonably modeled by only the time–temperature shift factors from TTS. At 60 MPa, however, the non-linear parameters have to be modeled as a product of stress and temperature dependent functions. The model predictions are in good agreement with the experimental results at most stress and temperature levels. The creep curves predicted at higher temperatures especially at 60 MPa tend to underestimate at longer times.     

The microstructure and impression creep behavior of cast AZ80 magnesium alloy with yttrium additions

The effects of 0.5, 1.0 and 2.0 wt.% Y additions on the microstructure and creep behavior of the as-cast AZ80 alloy were investigated by impression tests. The tests were performed at temperatures in the range 423–523 K, under punching stress in the range 150–650 MPa. At low temperatures up to 473 K, the AZ80 + 0.5Y alloy had the highest creep resistance among all materials tested, whereas with increasing temperature from 473 K to 523 K, the AZ80 + 1.0Y alloy had a better performance. This can be attributed to the fact that at low temperatures the presences of β-Mg₁₇Al₁₂ and Al₂Y phases together with solid solution hardening effects of Al in the Mg matrix strengthen the AZ80 + 0.5Y alloy. At higher temperatures, AZ80 + 1.0Y with a higher volume fraction of the more thermally stable Al₂Y and lower amounts of the less stable β-Mg₁₇Al₁₂ exhibits better creep behavior. The stress exponents and activation energies were almost the same for all alloy systems studied, 6.0–8.8 and 90–119 kJ/mol, respectively. The observed decreasing trend of creep-activation energy with stress suggests that two parallel mechanisms of lattice and pipe-diffusion-controlled dislocation climb are competing. Climb of dislocations with an additional particle strengthening effect controlled by dislocation pipe diffusion is dominant at high stresses, whereas climb of dislocations is the controlling mechanism at low stresses.     

Analysis of the sealing performance and creep behavior of the inner casing of a 1000 MW supercritical steam turbine under bolt relaxation

The creep behavior and sealing performance of the inner casing of a 1000 MW supercritical steam turbine were investigated during 200,000 h of steady operation at high temperatures. The influence of the stress relaxation of bolts on creep behavior and sealing performance was specifically demonstrated. A constitutive creep model based on continuum damage mechanics and a multiaxial creep strain formula was used to describe the stress–strain behavior and calculate the multiaxial strain. Due to significant bolt relaxation in the high-temperature region, stress in the steam inlet region decreased dramatically; likewise, multiaxial creep strain decreased markedly in this region. Contact pressure significantly decreased during the first 10,000 h, especially in the regions between bolts 1 and 9, and the largest decrease in contact pressure exceeded 340 MPa. This reduced sealing performance at high temperatures. Further comparison of the contact pressure and the opening displacement at the contact surface was carried out with and without bolt relaxation. The massive difference of 153 MPa between these two cases in the primary creep phase demonstrated that bolt relaxation significantly influences sealing performance.     

Creep life prediction of small punch creep testing specimens for service-exposed Cr5Mo using the theta-projection method

In this paper, small punch creep tests under different loads and conventional creep tests with various stresses at 550 °C were conducted on service-exposed Cr5Mo material. The theta-projection and modified theta-projection methods were used to analyze the creep curve and the minimum creep rate. The actual fracture time in the small punch creep test was 377 h, and the theta-projection method predicted a time of 339 h, which represents an error of 10.08%. The predicted time from the modified theta-projection method was 316.25 h, which represents an error of 16.11%. The curves predicted by the two models are similar. The theta-projection method is suitable for applications in small punch creep life analysis.     

Creep–fatigue damage for a structure with dissimilar metal welds of modified 9Cr–1Mo steel and 316L stainless steel

A creep–fatigue test with a structural specimen made of Mod. 9Cr–1Mo steel and 316L stainless steel has been carried out and the test results were compared with those of the evaluations by the high temperature design codes of ASME subsection NH and RCC-MR to quantify the conservatism. A specimen with a diameter of 500 mm, height of 440 mm and thickness of 6.3 mm was subjected to creep–fatigue loads with two hours of a hold time at 600 °C and a primary nominal stress of 30 MPa. The creep–fatigue behaviours of the dissimilar metal welds as well as the similar metal welds were investigated and the results of the test were compared with the evaluation results. Bimetallic (direct) transition metal joint and trimetallic transition metal joint for a dissimilar metal weld were employed for a specimen, and their behaviours under a creep–fatigue load were compared. The conservatism of the design codes on the creep–fatigue evaluation at the welded joints as well as at the base metal with an emphasis on Mod.9Cr–1Mo steel are highlighted through comparisons with the results from the observation and the evaluation.     

Enhancement of ferromagnetic and dielectric properties of lanthanum doped bismuth ferrite nanostructures

Cylindrical-shaped multiferroic Bi_1?xLa_xFeO₃ (x = 0.0, 0.05, 0.1 and 0.15) were synthesized successfully by hydrothermal method. All samples were found to be rhombohedrally distorted perovskite structure. Diameter of the cylindrical particles reduces from ～450 nm for x = 0.0 to ～100 nm for x = 0.1 prepared under the same conditions. The Neél temperature as well as the dielectric constant was also found to increase with the increase in lanthanum content. Lanthanum doping also enhanced the magnetic properties. Magnetization measurements above room temperature show a significant increase in magnetization at around 400 °C. Enhanced magnetic properties due to lanthanum doping are caused by the breakage of spin cycloid as observed by electron spin resonance study.     

The effect of rolling direction on the creep process of Al–Cu bimetallic sheet

The study of the mechanical properties of aluminium–copper (Al–Cu) metal layered composite, formed by joining aluminium and copper sheets in the process of rolling have been presented in this paper. The influence of the rolling direction on the basic strength parameters and rheological properties of the composite was analysed. All tests were carried out on flat specimens cut from a sheet in the direction compatible with the rolling direction (RD) and transverse direction (TD). Preliminary tests of monotonic uniaxial tension at a temperature of 293 K were carried out and the basic mechanical properties of Al–Cu bimetal were determined. The hardening process of the material was described by the three-parameter Swift’s equation. The essential creep tests were carried out at a temperature of 523 K in the range of stress 88.5–137.9 MPa. The relation between minimum creep rate and applied stress for the specimens cut from the RD and TD directions were determined. The relationships between the time to fracture, stress, and rupture elongation, obtained from the creep tests, were determined as well. Variations of the steady creep rate with time to fracture by using the Monkman–Grant’s model and its modifications were analysed. It was found that the rolling process strongly affected the short-time monotonic deformation at 293 K and the creep process at 523 K temperature.