Thermomechanical fatigue – Mechanism-based considerations on the challenge of life assessment

Abstract

The combination of cyclic mechanical and cyclic thermal loading leads to thermomechanical fatigue (TMF) which is considered to be the primary life-limiting factor for engineering components in many high-temperature applications. Extensive low-cycle fatigue (LCF) data, which is traditionally used for design purposes, has been generated isothermally on various high-temperature materials, and thus, it is tempting to try to predict TMF life based mainly on isothermal LCF data. In this contribution, studies on different metallic structural high-temperature materials, which have mainly been carried out in the author's laboratory, are reviewed addressing the question, in which way and to which extent a reliable, unerring and robust TMF life assessment is possible on the basis of isothermally obtained fatigue life data. It is shown by means of examples that a sound TMF life prediction first of all requires a detailed mechanistic understanding of the isothermal cyclic stress-strain response and the relevant damage mechanisms. Furthermore, the TMF-specific peculiarities in both the non-isothermal cyclic stress-strain behaviour and the non-isothermal damage evolution process must be known. If all these requirements are fulfilled and reflected in the TMF life assessment methodology applied, a reasonable predictive accuracy can be attained.