Crack growth behaviour of P92 steel under creep and creep–fatigue conditions

Abstract

High temperature creep and creep–fatigue crack growth tests were carried out on standard compact specimens machined from ASME P92 steel pipe. The effects of various loading conditions on crack growth behaviours were investigated. Crack initiation time was found to decrease with the increasing initial stress intensity factor under creep condition and further to decrease by the introduction of fatigue condition. For creep test, the crack growth rate can be well characterised by the facture mechanics parameter C*. For creep–fatigue test, the crack growth behaviour is dominated by the cycle dependent fatigue process when the hold time is shorter, but it becomes dominated by the time dependent creep process when the hold time becomes longer.     

Effects of phosphorus on creep behaviour of nickel and Ni–20Cr and on creep and strength of Nimonic 80A

Abstract

The influence of P on the creep behaviour of Ni, Ni–20Cr (wt-%), and Nimonic 80A was investigated by carrying out creep tests under various loads and at different temperatures. After creep fracture the samples were investigated using optical, scanning electron, and transmission electron microscopy. The grain boundary segregation was examined using Auger electron spectroscopy (AES). It was found that P segregates to the grain boundaries in all the materials investigated. The creep rate of Ni–20Cr and Nimonic 80A is decreased by the addition of P. Grain boundary segregation of P and its influence on strength was also investigated using AES for specimens aged between 600 and 700°C after fracture by a tensile test inside an ultrahigh vacuum chamber. Maxima of tensile strength are observed to be time dependent as a result of carbide precipitation, which is affected by the P segregation.

MST/1679     

The θ-concept in the theory of creep and its modification for describing the creep limit

The article contains an analysis of the theory of creep which in the literature is called the -concept, and its shortcomings are noted. The article suggests a modified variant of the theory and formulates a criterion of the creep limit from the positions of the theory of reliability. The obtained equations and criteria are compared with the results of creep and rupture tests of a heat-resistant alloy. These relations are fairly simple and can be used for engineering calculations of creep and creep limit.Leningrad University. TsNIIKM Prometei, Leningrad. Translated from Problemy Prochnosti, No. 12, pp. 8–11, December, 1989.     

Effect of cyclic loading on subsequent creep behaviour and its implications in creep–fatigue life assessment

Abstract

Evaluation of creep–fatigue failure is essential in design and fitness evaluation of high-temperature components in power generation plants. Cyclic deformation may alter the creep properties of the material and taking cyclic effects into account may improve the accuracy of creep–fatigue failure life prediction. To evaluate such a possibility, creep tests were conducted on 316FR and modified 9Cr–1Mo steel specimens subjected to prior cyclic loading; their creep deformation and rupture behaviours were compared with those of as-received materials. It was found that creep rupture life and elongation generally decreased following cyclic loading in both materials. In particular, the rupture elongation of 316FR in long-term creep conditions drastically decreases as a result of being cyclically deformed at a large strain range. Use of creep rupture properties after cyclic deformation, instead of those of as-received material, in strain-based and energy-based life estimation approaches brought about a clear improvement of creep–fatigue life prediction.     

Effect of primary α content on creep and creep crack growth behaviour of near α-Ti alloy

Abstract

The effect of primary α content on creep and creep crack growth behaviour of a near α-Ti alloy has been investigated at 600°C. The alloy was heat treated at different temperatures so as to obtain different volume fractions of equiaxed primary α in the range from 5 to 40%. Constant load creep tests were carried out at 600°C in the stress range 250–400 MPa until rupture of the specimens. Creep crack growth tests were carried out at 600°C and at an initial stress intensity level of 25 MPa m^1/2. Creep data reveal that minimum creep rate increases and time to rupture decreases with increase in primary α content indicating that higher primary α leads to creep weakening. On similar lines, maximum creep crack growth resistance is associated with the alloy with lowest primary α content (i.e. 5%). Microstructural and fractographic examination has revealed that creep fracture occurs by nucleation, growth and coalescence of microvoids nucleated at primary α/transformed β (matrix) interfaces. On the other hand, creep crack growth occurs by surface cracks nucleated by fracture of primary α particles as well as by growth and coalescence of microvoids nucleated at primary α/transformed β (matrix) interfaces in the interior of the specimen ahead of the crack tip.     

Deformation,diffusion and ductility during creep – continuous void nucleation and creep-fatigue damage

Abstract

It is shown that the assumption of unit (negative) slope in the well known Monkman–Grant plot of time to failure against minimum creep rate is too restrictive. By acknowledging observed slopes in the range 0.8–1, a ductility–strain-rate relation is deduced where ductility decreases with reducing strain rate. This in turn has implications for the ductility exhaustion method as applied during stress relaxation in the dwell period of low cycle fatigue tests of austenitic steels at elevated temperature. The simple method is used to calculate the cyclic creep damage in typical tests on austenitic steels in the region 550–650 °C and is compared to other calculations as employed in the R5 high temperature assessment procedure. The assumption of a uniform nucleation rate of grain boundary voids with creep strain goes some way to predicting the slope of the ductility–strain-rate relation. Both the ‘unconstrained’ and ‘constrained’ (lower shelf) regions of void growth are discussed.     

Pickett effect and creep in flexure of steel‐fiber reinforced concrete

Abstract

Creep and shrinkage are of great concern in the design of steel fiber reinforced concrete structures. This is especially true for a prestressed flex‐ural member with thin section. The test results of creep of steel‐fiber rein‐foced concrete in flexure are presented. The concrete beams made with various fiber volume contents were tested in flexure under drying or standard moist conditions. The Pickett effect in steel‐fiber reinforced concrete was investigated. This research shows that fibers can effectively restrain the bending creep of concrete. The Pickett effect can be reduced with the addition of fibers to plain concrete beam subjected to fiexural loading.     

Analysis of interactions between damage and basic creep of HPC and HPFRC heated between 20 and 80 °C

The present study concerns the uniaxial compressive creep of High Performance Concrete (HPC) at moderate temperatures, 20–80 °C. The study was conducted on four formulations of HPC including two fibrous concretes envisioned for future storage structures of Intermediate Level Long-Life Nuclear Wastes. These wastes are exothermic and lead to maximal temperatures in the field ranging from 50 to 70 °C (Andra, Référentiel des matériaux de stockage de déchets à haute activité et à vie longue, 2005). Here, we investigate the basic creep under uniaxial compression at 50 and 80 °C and compare it to that obtained on the same HPC at 20 °C. The objective of this research is to contribute to a better understanding of the phenomenon of interaction between damage and basic creep of HPC at moderate temperature, especially with a view to its integration in Thermo-Hydro-Mechanical models dealing with the design of special structures (massive structures, specific serviceability conditions in nuclear or hydroelectric power plants, etc.). This test campaign allowed us to assess the effect of temperature on the magnitude of basic creep of HPC, and also the impact of various temperature and mechanical loading conditions on the Young’s modulus of HPC. Heating to 80 °C damages HPC (instantaneous Young’s modulus decrease) and thereby increases the creep capacity, showing a relation between damage and creep amplitude. Moreover, this study gives global activation energy of basic creep of HPC that should be useful for practitioners dealing with concrete structures sensitive to delayed strains and subjected to moderate temperature.     

The tensile and creep behavior of Mg–Zn Alloys with and without Y and Zr as ternary elements

Tensile–creep experiments were conducted in the temperature range 100–200 °C and stress range 20–83 MPa for a series of magnesium–zinc–yttrium (Mg-Zn-Y) and mangnesium-zinc–zirconium (Mg-Zn-Zr) alloys ranging from 0 to 5.4 wt% Zn, 0 to 3 wt% Y, and 0 to 0.6 wt.% Zr. The greatest tensile–creep resistance was exhibited by an Mg–4.1Zn–0.2Y alloy. The room-temperature yield strength increased with increasing Y content for Mg–1.6–2.0Zn alloys. The greatest tensile strength and elongation was exhibited by Mg–5.4Zn–0.6Zr. This alloy also exhibited the finest grain size and the poorest creep resistance. The measured creep exponents and activation energies suggested that the creep mechanisms were dependent on stress. For applied stresses greater than 40 MPa, the creep exponents were between 4 and 8. For applied stresses less than 40 MPa, the creep exponent was 2.2. The calculated activation energies (Qapp) were dependent on temperature where the Q _app values between 100 and 150 °C (65 kJ/mol) were half those between 150 and 200 °C for the same applied stress value (30 MPa). Deformation observations indicated that the grain boundaries were susceptible to cracking in both tension and tension-creep, where at low applied stresses grain boundary sliding was suggested where strain accommodation occurred through grain boundary cracking. Thus grain size and grain boundaries appeared to be important microstructural parameters affecting the mechanical behavior. Microstructural effects on the tensile properties and creep behavior are discussed in comparison to other Mg-based alloy systems.

---

Microindentation creep of secondary hydrated cement phases and C–S–H

Microindentation creep measurements were obtained on compacted specimens of several secondary hydrated cement phases in equilibrium with water vapor at 11%RH. Values of creep modulus, indentation modulus and indentation hardness for calcium hydroxide, ettringite, gypsum and calcium carbonate are reported. The porosity dependence of these parameters was established and the significance of porosity on the time-dependent deformation of these materials was discussed. In addition the microindentation creep behavior of pure C–S–H and C₃S paste hydrated 32 years was determined. The discussion focuses on the relative importance of the contribution of the secondary phases in hydrated cement-based materials to creep with respect to the more ‘active’ C–S–H phase.     

The θ projection method and small creep strain interpolations in a commercial Titanium alloy

The paper describes the early and final uniaxial creep behaviour of a Titanium alloy used for manufacturing intermediate power compressor disks and blades. Tests were conducted at the operating temperature (773 K) for such components and for rupture lives up to 3600 hours. Creep curves were fitted using either the conventional 4 model or the recently developed 6 equation. Parameters allowing the interpolation of times to small strains were produced and their accuracy checked against experimental values using distributions found to be most supported by the data. At strains above 0.75% both methods yielded zero mean interpolation errors. At strains above 0.27% and below 0.75% the 4 equation produced systematic errors in interpolation but the 6 function gave errors which were not statistically different from zero. For strains below 0.27% both techniques produced systematic interpolation errors but the 6 interpolations were always significantly better than their 4 counterparts. Both the 6 and 4 techniques produced systematic errors when predicting the failure time using interpolated rupture strains. Unlike the 4 function, the 6 equation produced unbiased predictions of the minimum creep rate and so produced failure time interpolations from the Monkman–Grant relation that were indistinguishable from zero.     

Temperature and stress–regime dependent primary–secondary–tertiary creep constitutive model

Abstract

High temperature deformation analysis of components such as steam turbine rotors requires a knowledge of the material deformation response for a wide range of stresses and temperatures. Deformation analysis of steam turbine rotors deals with stresses ranging above the material proof strength (shortly after plant start-up) down to those responsible for very long rupture durations (for the steady running phase of operation) at various temperatures. This study describes the construction of a temperature and stress–regime dependent (primary–secondary–tertiary) creep constitutive model to provide a more reliable representation for the material deformation response over wide ranges of stresses and temperatures. The adopted equation set is a refinement of the ‘Characteristic Strain’ model and depends in its formulation mainly upon creep rupture data. Successful application of the model for a 1CrMoV steel for a wide range of stresses over the temperature range of 450–675°C is demonstrated.     

Computation of the relaxation and creep functions of elastomers from harmonic shear modulus

The purpose of this paper is to compute the relaxation and creep functions from the data of shear complex modulus, G ^∗(iν). The experimental data are available in the frequency window ν∈[ν_min,ν_max] in terms of the storage G′(ν) and loss G″(ν) moduli. The loss factor h( n) = \fracG"( n)G￠(n)\eta( \nu) = \frac{G'( \nu )}{G'(\nu )} is asymmetrical function. Therefore, a five-parameter fractional derivative model is used to predict the complex shear modulus, G ^∗(iν). The corresponding relaxation spectrum is evaluated numerically because the analytical solution does not exist. Thereby, the fractional model is approximated by a generalized Maxwell model and its rheological parameters (G _k ,τ _k ,N) are determined leading to the discrete relaxation spectrum G(t) valid in time interval corresponding to the frequency window of the input experimental data. Based on the deterministic approach, the creep compliance J(t) is computed on inversing the relaxation function G(t).     

A modified θ projection model for constant load creep curves-II. Application of creep life prediction

To minimize the deviation of the predicted creep curves obtained under constant load conditions by the original θ projection model, a new modified version that can be expressed by $\epsilon ={\theta }_1\left(1-e^{-{\theta }_{2}t}\right)+{\theta }_3\left(e^{{\theta }_4{e}^{{\theta }_5\epsilon }t}-1\right)$, was derived and experimentally validated in our last study. In the present study, the predictive capability of the modified θ projection model was investigated by comparing the simulated and experimentally determined creep curves of K465 and DZ125 superalloys over a range of temperatures and stresses. Furthermore, the linear relationship between creep temperature and initial stress was extended to the 5-parameter model. The results indicated that the modified model could be used as a creep life prediction method, as it described the creep curve shape and resulted in predictions that fall within a specified error interval. Meanwhile, this modified model provides a more accurate way of describing creep curves under constant load conditions. The limitations and future direction of the modified model were also discussed. In addition, this modified θ projection model shows great potential for the evaluation and assessment of the service safety of structural materials used in components governed by creep deformation.     

Fatigue and creep fatigue crack growth behaviour of alloy 800 at 550°C

Fatigue and creep fatigue crack growth behaviour of alloy 800 at 550°C have been studied to analyse defect assessment in a steam generator. Different grades of alloy 800 have been investigated to reproduce the in service conditions. Fatigue crack growth (FCG) tests were conducted on CT20 and tubular specimens, then on welded tubes. Furthermore the influence of hold times on fatigue crack growth behaviour was studied.

The results obtained on material simulating the weld heat affected zone are in agreement with the tests conducted on welded tubes. Fatigue crack growth characteristics of aged and cold-worked aged material seem to be slightly improved in comparison with base material. Finally a hold time of one minute increases strongly the FCG threshold value determined in pure fatigue but has a negligible influence on crack growth rates.     

Intergranular cavity damage and creep fracture of 1Cr–0·5Mo steels

Abstract

The factors controlling the intergranular fracture of three 1Cr–0·5Mo steels, tested at 550°C, have been examined. Failure results from the nucleation and growth of grain-boundary cavities. It is shown that creep life is dependent on the maximum principal stress, and that variations in the rupture properties of the steels are controlled by their susceptibility to nucleate intergranular cavities. Increasing the metalloid element content and, in particular, increasing the austenitizing temperature from 930 to 1300°C resulted in an increase in the cavity nucleation rate and a concomitant decrease in the rupture life. The cavity nucleation rate was found to be dependent on the maximum principal stress and when this dependence is used in conjunction with a simple cavity diffusion growth model the stress-state dependence of rupture life and the effect of residuals and austenitizing temperature on fracture properties could be predicted. These results are discussed in terms of the material and fabrication factors and service conditions that designers and operators of high-temperature plants must consider so that the plant may be operated safely and efficiently.

MST/81     

A high N and W heat-resistant martensitic cast steel with balanced tensile strength and creep resistance achieved by Laves and μ intermetallics

Journal of Materials Science - In this work, we developed a 9 wt% Cr martensitic heat-resistant cast steel with high N and W contents that achieved an excellent high-temperature strength and...