The effect of frequency on the elevated temperature fatigue of a nickel-base superalloy

In this investigation, the effect of a frequency variation between 2 cpm and 6 × 10⁴ cpm on the 1400°F fatigue properties of wrought Udimet 700 was determined at a constant stress range of 85 ksi. It was found that a peak existed in the cyclic life vs frequency curve such that a) an increase in frequency from 2 to 600 cpm increased the fatigue life 100 times and b) an increase in frequency from 600 to 6 × 10⁴ cpm reduced the fatigue life sevenfold. The peak in the cyclic life vs frequency curve is the result of two competing processes: 1) there is a reduction in the effects of creep and oxidation with increased frequency that tends to increase the life and 2) there is an increase in the heterogeneity of deformation with increased frequency that tends to reduce the life. At low frequencies, crack initiation occurred at surface-connected grain boundaries. Crack propagation was initially intergranular and then proceeded noncrystallographically normal to the stress axis (Stage II mode). Crack initiation at high frequencies occurred at subsurface brittle phases located at grain boundaries or at the intersection of coherent annealing twin boundaries. Crack propagation was entirely transgranular, proceeding initially along twin boundaries or slip bands (Stage I mode) and then changing to the Stage II mode. The statistical nature of the fracture process, the significance of subsurface crack initiation, and the relation of these results to existing high temperature fatigue models are discussed.