Creep-Damage-Induced Deterioration of the Strength of Ni-Base Superalloy due to the Change of its Microstructure

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hayato Sakamoto ◽  
Ken Suzuki ◽  
Hideo Miura
Keyword(s):  
Power Plants ◽  
Elevated Temperatures ◽  
Creep Damage ◽  
Test Sample ◽  
Test System ◽  
Electron Back Scatter Diffraction ◽  
Dominant Factor ◽  
Jet Engines ◽  
Creep Tests ◽  
Kikuchi Pattern

Ni-base superalloys are widely used for various power plants and jet engines. Since the operating temperature of thermal plants and equipment has been increasing to improve their thermal efficiency for decreasing the emission of carbon-dioxide, the initially designed microstructure was found to change gradually during their operation. Since this change of microstructure should deteriorate the strength of the materials, sudden unexpected fracture should occur during the operation of the plants and equipment. Therefore, it is very important to clarify the dominant factor of the change of the microstructure and the relationship between the microstructure and its strength for assuring the stable and reliable operation of the plants and equipment. In this study, the change of the strength of a grain and a grain boundary of Ni-base superalloys caused by the change of their microstructure was measured by using a micro tensile test system in a scanning ion microscope. A creep test was applied to bulk alloys at elevated temperatures and a small test sample was cut from the bulk alloy with different microstructure caused by creep damage by using focused ion beams. The test sample was fixed to a silicon beam and a micro probe, respectively, by tungsten deposition. Finally, the test sample was thinned to 1μm and the sample was stretched to fracture at room temperature. The change of the order of atom arrangement of the sample was evaluated by applying electron back-scatter diffraction (EBSD) analysis quantitatively. In this study, the quality of grains in Ni-base superalloys was analyzed by using image quality (IQ) value calculated by using Hough transform of the observed Kikuchi pattern. It was found that the order of atom arrangement was deteriorated monotonically during the creep tests and this deterioration corresponded to the change of the microstructure clearly. Both the yield strength and the ultimate tensile strength of a grain in the alloys decreased drastically with the change of the microstructure, in other words, the IQ value of the grains. There was a clear relationship between the IQ value of a grain and its strength. Therefore, this IQ value is effective for evaluating the crystallinity of the alloys and the remained strength of the damaged alloys. The change of the microstructure was dominated by the strain-induced anisotropic accelerated diffusion of component elements of the alloys and the activation energy of the diffusion was determined quantitatively as a function of temperature and the applied stress.

Disappearance of Martensitic Strengthened-Micro-Texture in Modified 9Cr-1Mo Steel Caused by Stress-Induced Acceleration of Atomic Diffusion at Elevated Temperatures

2018 ◽  
Vol 774 ◽  
pp. 31-35
Author(s):  
Taichi Shinozaki ◽  
Ken Suzuki ◽  
Hideo Miura
Keyword(s):  
Power Plants ◽  
Elevated Temperatures ◽  
Thermal Power ◽  
Atomic Diffusion ◽  
Dominant Factor ◽  
Micro Structure ◽  
Creep Tests ◽  
Heat Resistant Steel ◽  
Component Element ◽  
Applied Tensile Stress

Modified 9Cr-1Mo steel is a heat-resistant steel developed for a steam generator in a FBR (Fast Breeder Reactor) and it has been applied to various thermal power plants. Recently, it was found that the fatigue limits did not appear up to 108 cycles at temperatures higher than 500oC. The reason for the decrease of the fatigue life was attributed to the change of the initially designed microstructure of the alloy. The initially dispersed fine lath martensitic texture disappeared at temperatures higher than 500°C, when the magnitude of the applied stress exceeded a certain critical value. In order to explicate the dominant factors of the change quantitatively, the change of the microstructure and the strength of the alloy were continuously observed by applying an intermittent fatigue and creep tests at elevated temperatures and EBSD analysis. It was found that there was a critical stress which caused the microstructure change at each test temperature higher than 500°C, and the activation energy of the change was determined as a function of temperature and the applied tensile stress. The dominant factor of the micro structure change was the stress-induced acceleration of the atomic diffusion of the component element of the alloy.

scholarly journals Estimating the Influences of Prior Residual Stress on the Creep Rupture Mechanism for P92 Steel

Metals ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 639 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dezheng Liu ◽  
Yan Li ◽  
Xiangdong Xie ◽  
Guijie Liang ◽  
Jing Zhao
Keyword(s):  
Residual Stress ◽  
Flow Stress ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Creep Damage ◽  
Creep Rupture ◽  
Transgranular Fracture ◽  
Creep Tests ◽  
Energy Principle ◽  
P92 Steel ◽  
Rupture Mechanism

Creep damage is one of the main failure mechanisms of high Cr heat-resistant steel in power plants. Due to the complex changes of stress, strain, and damage at the tip of a creep crack with time, it is difficult to accurately evaluate the effects of residual stress on the creep rupture mechanism. In this study, two levels of residual stress were introduced in P92 high Cr alloy specimens using the local out-of-plane compression approach. The specimens were then subjected to thermal exposure at the temperature of 650 °C for accelerated creep tests. The chemical composition of P92 specimens was obtained using an FLS980-stm Edinburgh fluorescence spectrometer. Then, the constitutive coupling relation between the temperature and material intrinsic flow stress was established based on the Gibbs free energy principle. The effects of prior residual stress on the creep rupture mechanism were investigated by the finite element method (FEM) and experimental method. A comparison of the experimental and simulated results demonstrates that the effect of prior residual stress on the propagation of micro-cracks and the creep rupture time is significant. In sum, the transgranular fracture and the intergranular fracture can be observed in micrographs when the value of prior residual stress exceeds and is less than the material intrinsic flow stress, respectively.

Development of Creep Damage in Similar Weld Joints of P92 Steel Pipe

2017 ◽  
Vol 270 ◽  
pp. 162-167
Author(s):  
Petr Král ◽  
Vaclav Sklenička ◽  
Květa Kuchařová ◽  
Marie Svobodová ◽  
Marie Kvapilová ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Welded Joints ◽  
Creep Behaviour ◽  
Creep Damage ◽  
Electron Back Scatter Diffraction ◽  
Steel Pipe ◽  
Tensile Creep ◽  
Creep Tests ◽  
P92 Steel ◽  
Welding Technology ◽  
Fracture Ductility

The microstructure and creep behaviour of the welded joints of P92 steel pipe were investigated in order to determine the influence of orbital heat welding technology on the creep resistance. Creep specimens were machined from the welded joints. Tensile creep tests of welded joints were performed at 873 K using different stresses. The microstructure of tested specimens was investigated by scanning electron microscope Tescan equipped with an electron-back scatter diffraction. The creep results showed that the creep fracture strain of the welded joints decreases with decreasing value of applied stress. Microstructure investigation showed that fracture behaviour of welded joints is influenced by an enhanced cavity formation at grain boundaries in the heat-affected zone causing lower fracture ductility.

Stress-Induced Change of the Microstructure and Strength of Modified 9Cr-1Mo Steel Under Fatigue and Creep Loadings at Elevated Temperatures

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Taichi Shinozaki ◽  
Ken Suzuki ◽  
Hideo Miura
Keyword(s):  
Activation Energy ◽  
Applied Stress ◽  
Test Temperature ◽  
Elevated Temperatures ◽  
Critical Value ◽  
Atomic Diffusion ◽  
Dominant Factor ◽  
Martensitic Structure ◽  
Creep Tests ◽  
Microstructure Change

The change of the lath martensitic structure in modified 9Cr-1Mo steel was observed in the specimens after the fatigue and creep tests using EBSD (Electron Back-Scatter Diffraction). The Kernel Average Misorientation (KAM) value obtained from the EBSD analysis were used for the quantitative evaluation of the change in the lath martensitic texture. It was found that the average KAM values of the fractured specimens decreased clearly after 107−108 cycles of the fatigue loading at temperatures higher than 500°C when the amplitude of the applied stress exceeded a critical value. This change corresponded to the disappearance of the lath martensitic structure. The critical value decreased monotonically with the increase of the test temperature. This microstructure change decreased the strength of the alloy drastically. It was found that the change of the microstructure started at a certain time at each test temperature as a function of the amplitude of the applied stress. There was the critical stress at which the microstructure change started at each test temperature higher than 500°C, and the activation energy of the change was determined as a function of temperature and the amplitude of the applied stress. The dominant factor of the microstructure change was the stress-induced acceleration of the atomic diffusion of the component elements in the alloy. In order to improve the long-term reliability of the alloy, it is very important to increase the activation energy by modifying the microstructure of this alloy.

Damage Mechanism of the Acceleration of Intergranular Cracking of Stainless Steel SUS316LN Under Creep Loading at Elevated Temperatures

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chongzhe Gu ◽  
Yukako Takahashi ◽  
Hideo Miura
Keyword(s):  
Plastic Deformation ◽  
Grain Boundaries ◽  
Creep Test ◽  
Elevated Temperatures ◽  
Creep Damage ◽  
Degradation Process ◽  
Damage Mechanism ◽  
Dominant Factor ◽  
Total Density ◽  
Intergranular Cracking

Abstract In this study, the simple creep test and intermittent creep test of SUS316LN, which has become a preferred materials for the structural components used in Boiling Water Reactors and Sodium Cooled-fast Reactors, were carried out to investigate the damage evolution. The effect of doping nitrogen into conventionally used SUS316L on the creep and fatigue strength has been proved in the comparison experiment between SUS316L and SUS316LN. At elevated temperatures, however, intergranular cracking still appeared under the application of low tensile stress. The mechanism of intergranular cracking at elevated temperatures, however, has not been clarified quantitatively yet. Therefore, in this research, EBSD method was applied to investigate the degradation process of the crystallinity around grain boundaries in this alloy from the viewpoint of the change of micro texture and atom arrangement. IQ (Image Quality) values, which indicates the average sharpness of the obtained diffraction pattern, were used for the evaluation of the local total density of defects. KAM (Kernel Average Misorientation) value was used for the evaluation of local plastic deformation in this study. In the creep test, the crystallinity decreased monotonically with the increase of creep damage. Combined with ΔKAM value, it was concluded that the accumulation of dislocations along specific grain boundaries and the difference of the magnitude of plastic deformation between two nearby grains were the dominant factors of intergranular cracking. Large difference of the magnitude of plastic deformation between two grains accelerated the accumulation of dislocations around the grain boundary. Therefore, the large difference of Schmid Factor between nearby grain is the dominant factor which determines the place where intergranular cracking starts to occur.

Type IV Creep Damage Analysis for Full Size Component Test on Welded P91 Boiler Hot Reheat Piping

2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fumio Takemasa ◽  
Isamu Nonaka ◽  
Takuya Ito ◽  
Kensuke Saitou ◽  
Yoshikazu Miyachi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Welded Joints ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Creep Damage ◽  
Assessment Method ◽  
Life Assessment ◽  
Creep Tests ◽  
Full Size ◽  
Type Iv ◽  
Component Test ◽  
Creep Life Assessment

In order to establish the creep life assessment method for modified 9Cr-1Mo steel welded joints on hot reheat piping of generating power plants, internal pressure creep tests conducted with full size components are analysed using the finite element method (FEM). As a result, it is shown that the creep damage distribution in weld heat affected zone (HAZ) can be predicted by stress distribution in HAZ, and that average stress in HAZ can be a representative value for creep strength of welded joints.

Disappearance of Strengthened Micro Texture of Modified 9Cr-1Mo Steel Caused by Stress-Induced Acceleration of Atomic Diffusion at Elevated Temperatures

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yifan Luo ◽  
Hideo Miura
Keyword(s):  
Mechanical Stress ◽  
Creep Test ◽  
Elevated Temperatures ◽  
Effective Diffusion ◽  
Fatigue Loading ◽  
Critical Value ◽  
Prediction Equation ◽  
Electron Back Scatter Diffraction ◽  
Atomic Diffusion ◽  
Creep Tests

The change of the lath martensitic structure in the modified 9Cr-1Mo steel was observed in the specimens after the intermittent fatigue and creep tests using EBSD (Electron Back-Scatter Diffraction) analysis. The Kernel Average Misorientation (KAM) value and the image quality (IQ) value obtained from the EBSD analysis were used for the quantitative evaluation of the change in the lath martensitic texture. It was found that the lath martensitic texture started to disappear clearly after 107–108 cycles under the fatigue loading at temperatures higher than 500°C when the amplitude of the applied stress exceeded a critical value. Similar change also appeared in the creep test. The critical value decreased monotonically with the increase of the test temperature. This microstructure change decreased the strength of the alloy drastically. In order to explicate the dominant factors of the change quantitatively, the changes of the microstructure and the strength of the alloy were continuously measured by applying an intermittent creep test at elevated temperatures. It was found that the effective activation energy of atomic diffusion decreased drastically under the application of mechanical stress at elevated temperatures. The effective diffusion length for the disappearance was about 9 μm, and this value was much larger than the initial pitch of the lath martensitic texture of about 0.5 μm, and smaller than the average size of the initial austenite grains of about 20 μm. Therefore, the stress-induced acceleration of atomic diffusion was attributed to the disappearance of the initially strengthened micro texture. The change of the micro texture caused the drastic decrease in the yielding strength of this alloy. Finally, the prediction equation of the lifetime of the alloy was proposed by considering the stress-induced acceleration of atomic diffusion under the application of mechanical stress at elevated temperatures.

Creep Damage and Fracture in Advanced Tungsten Modified 9%Cr Ferritic Steel

2016 ◽  
Vol 713 ◽  
pp. 183-186 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vàclav Sklenička ◽  
K. Kuchařová ◽  
M. Kvapilová ◽  
Petr Král ◽  
Jiří Dvořák
Keyword(s):  
Creep Strength ◽  
Ferritic Steel ◽  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Creep Behaviour ◽  
Creep Damage ◽  
Creep Tests ◽  
P92 Steel ◽  
Damage And Fracture ◽  
Isothermal Ageing

Advanced tungsten modified 9%Cr ferritic steel (ASTM Grade P92) is a promising material for the next generation of fossil and nuclear power plants. Unfortunately, there are rather few published reports on damage processes in P92 steel during high temperature creep and the effect of damage evolution on the creep strength is not fully understood. In this work, the creep behaviour of P92 steel in as-received condition and after long-term isothermal ageing was investigated at 600 and 650°C using uniaxial tension creep tests. To quantify the effect of each damage process on the loss of creep strength, most of creep tests were followed by microstructural and fractographic investigations. It was found that the large Laves phase particles, which coarsened during creep exposure, served as preferential sites for creep cavity nucleation.

The Role of Free-Living Amoebae Occurring in Heated Effluents as Causative Agents of Human Disease

1983 ◽  
Vol 15 (10) ◽  
pp. 135-147
Author(s):  
Maurice A Shapiro ◽  
Meryl H Karol ◽  
Georg Keleti ◽  
Jan L Sykora ◽  
A J Martinez
Keyword(s):  
Human Disease ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Elevated Temperatures ◽  
Human Subjects ◽  
Cooling Towers ◽  
Free Living ◽  
Cooling Systems ◽  
Delayed Onset ◽  
Source Of Infection ◽  
Causative Agents

It has been shown that several pathogenic organisms may be frequently found in thermal effluents and cooling systems of coal fired power plants. One of them is pathogenic Naegleria fowleri, the causative agent of an acute fatal human disease - primary amoebic meningoencephalitis (PAM). In our study two out of eight power plants investigated, harbored pathogenic N. fowleri in heated water or cooling towers. The occurrence of this organism was related to elevated temperatures. No significant correlation was found for other biological and chemical parameters. In addition, pathogenic Acanthamoeba which causes granulomatous amoebic encephalitis (GAE) was found in the tested heated effluents from coal fired power plants. Non-pathogenic strains of N. fowleri as well as other free-living and “harmless” amoebae were also very abundant in effluents from all investigated coal fired power plants and cooling towers. It has been reported that several species of nonpathogenic amoebae were isolated from humidifiers and air conditioning systems. Serological testing of symptomatic human subjects has indicated that these organisms may be one of the causative agents of hypersensitivity pneumonitis. An experimental study performed in our laboratory involved testing of guinea pigs sensitized by injection of axenic, non-pathogenic N. gruberi. Delayed onset skin reactivity was apparent in all animals injected with the antigen. Antibodies were detected in all sensitized animals. Bronchial provocation challenge employed to investigate pulmonary hypersensitivity was also used, and yielded positive results. All the sensitized animals displayed delayed onset respiratory responses. The results of this study indicate that not only pathogenic but also non-pathogenic free-living amoebae may be important causative agents of human disease. The occurrence of these organisms in cooling systems from coal fired power plants indicates that these facilities may be an important source of infection.

Atomic Diffusion Induced Damage of Ni-Base Super Alloy at Elevated Temperature

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Motoki Takahashi ◽  
Ken Suzuki ◽  
Hideo Miura
Keyword(s):  
Power Plants ◽  
Creep Damage ◽  
Rotor Blades ◽  
Atomic Scale ◽  
Atomic Diffusion ◽  
Kernel Average Misorientation ◽  
Damage Process ◽  
Creep Loading ◽  
Ebsd Method ◽  
Base Superalloy

Ni-base superalloys consisting of binary phases such as cuboidal γ’ (Ni3Al) precipitates orderly dispersed in the γ matrix (Ni-rich matrix) have been generally used for rotor blades in energy power plants. However, fine dispersed γ’ precipitates are coarsened perpendicularly to the applied load direction during high temperature creep loading. As this phenomenon called “Rafting” proceeds, the strengthened micro texture disappears and then, cracks starts to grow rapidly along the boundaries of the layered texture. Thus, it is very important to evaluate the change of the crystallinity of the alloy in detail for explicating the atomic scale damage process. In this study, the change of the micro-texture of the Ni-base superalloy (CM247LC) was observed by using EBSD method. The change in the crystallinity was evaluated using both Kernel Average Misorientation (KAM) and image quality (IQ) values. The KAM value indicates the dislocation density and the IQ value shows the order of atom arrangement in the observed area. As a result, KAM value showed no significant change with increasing the creep damage. On the other hand, the IQ value monotonically shifted to lower values and the average IQ value gradually decreased as the creep loading time increased. Decreasing IQ value without change in KAM value implies that the density of point defects such as vacancies mainly increased under creep loading and ordered Ll2 structure became disordered. Therefore, the creep damage of this alloy is mainly dominated by not the accumulation of dislocations, but the increase in the disorder of atom arrangement in the micro texture caused by the diffusion of component elements.

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