Grain Boundary Cavitation Under Creep-Fatigue Conditions

1987 ◽  
pp. 247-260
Author(s):  
Hermann Riedel
Keyword(s):  
Grain Boundary ◽  
Creep Fatigue

Molecular Dynamics Analysis of the Acceleration of Intergranular Cracking of Ni-Base Superalloy Caused by Accumulation of Vacancies and Dislocations Around Grain Boundaries

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryo Kikuchi ◽  
Shujiro Suzuki ◽  
Ken Suzuki
Keyword(s):  
Molecular Dynamics ◽  
Plastic Deformation ◽  
Grain Boundary ◽  
Grain Boundaries ◽  
Fatigue Loading ◽  
Transgranular Fracture ◽  
Dynamics Analysis ◽  
Intergranular Cracking ◽  
Creep Fatigue ◽  
Schmid Factor

Abstract Ni-based superalloys with excellent high temperature strength have been used in advanced thermal power plants. It was found that grain boundary cracking is caused in the alloy under creep-fatigue loading due to the degradation of the crystallinity of grain boundaries and the grain boundary cracking degrades the lifetime of the alloy drastically. In order to clarify the mechanism of intergranular cracking, in this research, static and dynamic strains were applied to a bicrystal structure of the alloy perpendicularly to the grain boundary using molecular dynamics analysis. In addition, the effect of the accumulation of vacancies in the area with high-density of dislocations on the strength of the bicrystal structure was analysed. It was found that the fracture mode of the bicrystal structure changed from ductile transgranular fracture to brittle intergranular one as strong functions of the combination of Schmid factor of the two grains and the density of defects around the grain boundary. The local heavy plastic deformation occurred around the grain boundary with large difference in Schmid factor between nearby grains and the diffusion of the newly grown dislocations and vacancies was suppressed by the large strain field due to the large mismatch of the crystallographic orientation between the grains. The accumulation of vacancies accelerated the local plastic deformation around the grain boundary. Therefore, the mechanism of the acceleration of intergranular cracking under creep-fatigue loading was successfully clarified by MD analysis.

Grain Boundary Cracking of Nickel-Based Alloy 625 Under Creep Loadings at Elevated Temperatures

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yan Liang ◽  
Yifan Luo ◽  
Ken Suzuki ◽  
Hideo Miura
Keyword(s):  
Grain Boundary ◽  
Grain Boundaries ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Elevated Temperatures ◽  
Thermal Power ◽  
Thermal Power Plants ◽  
Alloy 625 ◽  
Creep Fatigue ◽  
Creep Loading ◽  
Initial Cracks

Abstract Since the operating condition of thermal power plants has become harsher for minimizing the emission of CO2, Ni-based superalloys, such as Alloy 617 and 625, have been used in the plants to replace the conventional ferritic materials. Unfortunately, the increase of coefficient of thermal expansion compared with conventional steels is a concern. In addition, Ni-based superalloys have to suffer creep-fatigue random loading because thermal power plants have to compensate the random output of various renewable energies. It was found that the lifetime of Ni-based superalloys under creep-fatigue loading was much shorter than that under simple fatigue or creep loading. Thus, it has become very important to clarify the crack mechanism and establish the quantitative theory for estimating their lifetime under various loading conditions at elevated temperatures. Thus, the elucidation of the initial damage mechanism of Alloy 625 under various loading is indispensable. Hence, the initial cracking mechanism of Alloy 625 at grain boundaries under creep loading was investigated experimentally. The creep test was applied to small specimens in Argon atmosphere. The change of the micro texture during the creep test was observed by using SEM. It was confirmed that all the initial cracks appeared at certain grain boundaries. The change of the crystallinity was observed by EBSD (Electron Back-Scatter Diffraction) analysis quantitatively. It was found that the local accumulation of dislocations at the cracked grain boundaries caused the initial cracks at those grain boundaries. The initiation of cracks appeared clearly between two grains which had difference of KAM (Kernel Average Misorientation) values larger than 0.2. Therefore, dislocations were accumulated at one side of the grain boundary. By measuring the KAM values near grain boundaries, the appearance of initial cracks can be predicted approximately.

Acceleration of Grain Boundary Cracking in Ni-Base Alloy 617 Under Creep-Fatigue Loading at 800°C

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenta Ishihara ◽  
Yifan Luo ◽  
Hideo Miura
Keyword(s):  
Grain Boundary ◽  
Grain Boundaries ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Base Alloy ◽  
Thermal Power ◽  
Fatigue Loading ◽  
Intergranular Cracking ◽  
Alloy 617 ◽  
Effective Lifetime ◽  
Creep Fatigue

Abstract In recent years, in order to solve the global warming issue, the operating temperature of advanced thermal power plants has attempted to improve thermal efficiency and reduce CO2 emissions. Under the creep and creep-fatigue conditions at elevated temperature, however, the effective lifetime of heat-resistant alloys such as Ni-base Alloy 617, which has high strength and good corrosion resistance at about 750°C, was found to decrease drastically. Main reason for this short lifetime was attributed to the change in the crack initiation and propagation paths from transgranular one to intergranular one. Therefore, it is important to understand and express the criteria for grain boundary cracking. In this study, electron back-scatter diffraction (EBSD) analysis was applied to the visualization of the degradation process of the quality of grain boundaries in the alloy. The change in the crystallinity of grains and grain boundaries were continuously monitored during creep and creep-fatigue tests. It was found that accumulation of vacancies and dislocations degraded the crystallinity of grain boundaries and thus, their strength. The accumulation occurred around the specific grain boundaries which consisted of grains with large difference of Schmid factor during creep test. On the other hand, it occurred around all grain boundaries under the creep-fatigue loading. Thus, the accumulation of defects was clearly accelerated under the creep-fatigue loading. The critical image quality (IQ) value of intergranular cracking was almost the same regardless of the loading mode. Once the IQ value of the damaged grain boundaries decreased to a critical value, intergranular cracking started to occur at the grain boundaries.

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