In this study, we employed pressurized creep tubes to investigate the biaxial thermal creep behavior of Inconel 617 (Alloy 617) and Haynes 230 (Alloy 230). Both alloys have been considered to be the primary candidate structural materials for very high temperature reactors (VHTRs) due to their exceptional high-temperature mechanical properties. The current creep experiments were conducted at 900°C for the effective stress range of 15–35 MPa. For both alloys, complete creep strain development with primary, secondary, and tertiary regimes were observed in all studied conditions. The tertiary creep was found to be dominant in the entire creep lives of both alloys. With increasing applied creep stress, the fraction of the secondary creep regime decreases. The nucleation, diffusion, and coarsening of creep voids and carbides on grain boundaries was found to be the main reason for the limited secondary regime, and was also found to be the major cause of creep fracture. The creep curves computed using the adjusted creep equation of the form ε = Aσ cosh−1(1 + rt) + Pσntm agree well with the experimental results for both alloys at the temperatures of 850–950°C.
Paper published with permission.
Thermal creep stress and strain analysis in non-homogeneous spherical shell
