High temperature low cycle fatigue

Abstract

Fatigue at high temperature is a complex phenomenon as it is influenced by a number of time-dependent processes which become important at elevated temperatures. These processes include creep, oxidation, phase instabilities and dynamic strain ageing (DSA), acting either independently or synergistically influence fatigue behaviour, often lowering the fatigue life. Current design approaches employ linear summation of fatigue and creep damage with suitable factors on permissible damage to take care of uncertainties in interaction between cyclic and time-dependent processes. It is, therefore, important to develop a deeper understanding of the processes that occur during high temperature fatigue so that realistic life predictions could be made. Results on the high temperature fatigue behaviour of austenitic stainless steels, ferritic steels and nickel base alloys are presented here. The important mechanisms of interaction of high temperature time-dependent processes with fatigue under various conditions are discussed in detail. Emphasis is placed on cyclic stress response, fatigue life, deformation substructure and fracture behaviour. This is followed by a review of important life prediction techniques under combined creep-fatigue loading conditions. Life prediction techniques considered here include linear damage summation, strain range partitioning, ductility exhaustion approach, frequency modified and frequency separation methods, techniques based on hysteresis energy and damage rate models, and methods based on crack-cavitation interation models.