Evaluation of Damage Degree of Inconel 718 Alloy with the Use of Non-Destructive Methods

The article presents results of the investigation of the quantitative evaluation of the degree of damage, described by the measure of accumulated plastic strain obtained in a static tensile test, using selected non-destructive techniques. Inconel 718 alloy was tested. The tests were conducted using a new type of specimens of variable cross-sectional area of measuring part. This provided a continuous distribution of plastic strain in the gage part of the specimen. The permanent deformation that varies along the sample axis enables an analysis of damage induced by a plastic deformation. The proposed method enables replacing the series of specimens by one sample. Degradation of the alloy corresponds with the changes of the electromagnetic properties of the material—the phase angle of the complex impedance of the eddy current, as well as with acoustics properties of material—acoustic birefringence of ultrasonic waves. It allows to determine the degree of damage of the material using noninvasive, non-destructive methods. Using the damage parameter proposed by Johnson it is possible to obtain the correlation between the non-destructive results and a damage degree of the material. The presented testing method delivers information about changes in the material structure caused by permanent deformation.