Improvement of long-term creep life extrapolation using a new master curve for Grade 91 steel

Abstract

This study aims to improve the long-term creep life extrapolation of Grade 91 (Gr. 91) steel using a new master curve of a hyperbolic sine (“sinh”) form. In the master curve for extrapolating creep rupture life, a controversial point of a polynomial form, which has usually been used in time–temperature parametric methods, was preliminarily indicated. The validity of the new master curve was verified. A large body of creep rupture data for Gr. 91 steel was prepared from different sources of available worldwide data at 500 °C to 700 °C for Gr. 91 steel. The material constants of the Larson–Miller, Orr–Sherby–Dorn, and Manson–Harferd parameters were obtained using the polynomial and sinh forms on the basis of the rupture data. Long-term creep rupture life was extrapolated for up to 60 years using the two forms that defined the master curves. Results of long-term creep life extrapolation showed that the master curve of the polynomial form exhibited overestimation due to the divergent curves in the low stress ranges, whereas the master curve of the sinh form revealed goodness in the low stress ranges beyond the experimental data. The proposed sinh form was superior to the polynomial form. The sinh form could be applied to extrapolate the long-term creep rupture life of other heat-resistant steels. The creep rupture stresses predicted by the sinh function were comparable to those of RCC-MRx code.