High-temperature Fatigue Behavior Research Articles

High temperature fatigue behavior of coated and uncoated nickel-based single crystal superalloy DD6: Microstructures evolution, damage mechanisms and lifetime prediction

Thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) are widely used to further extend the lifetime of turbine blades by protecting the blades from high temperature corrosion and oxidation. However, the mechanical behavior of turbine blades is obviously affected by the TBCs. In this study, microstructures evolution, damage mechanisms and life prediction of coated and uncoated nickel-based single crystal (NBSX) superalloy DD6 under isothermal fatigue load were investigated at 980 °C. The effects of TBCs on fatigue failure behavior and lifetime of DD6 were addressed. The results showed that the fatigue lifetime reduced with the increase of load. The effect of TBCs on the fatigue lifetime was related to the stress amplitude, as the effect was beneficial at high stress but almost negligible at low stress. Fracture morphologies showed that the cracks more likely initiated and propagated from basal defects for both coated and uncoated DD6, and the microstructure evolution also showed stress amplitude dependence. The crack density of uncoated DD6 increased first and then decreased with the increase of stress amplitude. However, the TBCs reduced the number of cracks that penetrate into the DD6 substrate, and the stress amplitude exerted a significant effect on crack propagation paths. In addition, the rafting behaviors of the DD6 substrate of coated and uncoated samples was compared, and results showed that TBCs could reduce the rafting degree of DD6. Finally, the fatigue lifetime of coated samples was predicted based on the modified Basquin model, and the prediction results fitted well with the experimental results.

Effects of deep hole drilling processes on the fatigue strength of GTD-111 DS

The paper deals with the effects of electrochemical and electro-discharge deep hole drilling on the high-temperature fatigue behavior of a directionally solidified GTD-111 superalloy. High-temperature HCF tests were carried out at 800 °C on specimens having a coaxial hole drilled with the investigated processes. The hole diameter and length were 1.5 and 95 mm, respectively. The material’s high-temperature HCF S-N curve was also obtained to provide a reference curve. Despite the scatter caused by the material microstructure in the fatigue crack nucleation and propagation regime, the fatigue strength was found to be affected by the investigated hole drilling techniques. The electro-discharge deep hole drilling was found to lower the fatigue strength by 8%. Fractographic analyses showed that it can be attributed to the different hole surface roughness and microstructural alteration in the underlying material.

High Temperature Fatigue of Additively Manufactured Inconel 718: A Short Review

Abstract With the increasing interest in adopting additively manufactured (AM) IN718 for high-temperature applications, driven by the design and manufacturing flexibility offered by AM technologies, understanding its fatigue performance is crucial before full-scale adoption. This paper reviews the recent literature on the high-temperature fatigue behavior of AM IN718. The review focuses on two primary stages of fatigue damage: fatigue crack initiation and fatigue crack growth. Notably, most existing studies have concentrated on fatigue crack initiation, and thus, this review emphasizes this aspect. In the fatigue crack initiation stage, discrepancies in low cycle fatigue (LCF) and high cycle fatigue (HCF) life performances are observed in the literature. Some studies have shown that the average room temperature (RT) fatigue life of AM IN718 is superior or comparable to that at high temperatures in the LCF regime. Conversely, in the HCF regime, high-temperature fatigue life is sometimes found to be superior to that at room temperature. However, other studies indicate no clear trend regarding the effect of temperature on HCF life. Although various mechanisms have been proposed to either improve or degrade fatigue performance across the LCF, HCF, and very high cycle fatigue (VHCF) regimes, the underlying reasons for the distinct behaviors in these regimes remain unclear. Competing mechanisms, such as surface oxide formation and thermally driven dislocations glide, can potentially enhance or reduce fatigue life. However, the interaction and control of these mechanisms over the fatigue strength of AM IN718 are not yet fully understood. Systematic studies are required to elucidate their roles in high-temperature fatigue. Microstructural investigations have suggested that controlling the formation and precipitation of deleterious secondary phases is crucial for tailoring the high-temperature fatigue strength of AM IN718. Therefore, it is imperative to design heat treatment protocols informed by a comprehensive understanding of phase formation kinetics to improve the high-temperature fatigue performance of AM IN718 compared to their traditionally manufactured (TM) counterparts. This is particularly important for IN718 parts manufactured using directed energy deposition technology, which currently lacks standardized heat treatment procedures. The review also identifies open research areas and provides recommendations for future work to address these gaps.

Damage Analysis and Startup Schedule Optimization of Steam Turbine Rotors With an Anisotropic Damage Coupled Viscoplastic Constitutive Model

Abstract The optimization of the operation scheme is of great significance for improving the flexibility of thermal power plants in energy systems dominated by renewable energy. However, thermal stress and corresponding thermomechanical fatigue damage are the main limitations. A unified viscoplastic constitutive model coupled with anisotropic damage is introduced and validated by comparing the experimental and simulated hysteresis loops and cyclic softening curves. The model is implemented into the ansys software by using the USERMAT subroutine to numerically investigate the high-temperature fatigue behavior of a 1000 MW steam turbine rotor on different startup schedules. The critical areas of the rotor are studied in terms of temperature, stress, accumulated inelastic strain, and damage. Based on the damage analysis, the hot start schedule is optimized and validated. The startup time can be significantly shortened within permitted fatigue damage. Moreover, the life expenditure under different loading-up rates is calculated and the extra startup costs can be evaluated accordingly for wider application.

Enhancement of high-temperature fatigue properties of 310S stainless steel welded joints by strengthened grinding process inducing gradient structure

This study employed the strengthened grinding process (SGP) for surface enhancement treatment of 310S stainless steel weld joints. The surface characteristics and high-temperature fatigue performance were investigated. Initially, the effects of different SGP durations on the surface morphology, microhardness, and residual stress of the weld joints were studied. Subsequently, the high-temperature fatigue life of samples processed through SGP was examined, and the potential mechanisms underlying the impact of SGP on the high-temperature fatigue behaviour of 310S stainless steel weld joints were discussed. The maximum hardness of SGP-6M samples was 337 HV, while the average hardness of UP samples was 163 HV, and the maximum hardness of SGP-6M samples increased by 90.18 % compared to UP samples. The surface residual stress changed from a residual tensile stress of 205.24 MPa to a residual compressive stress of −864.76 MPa. At 25 °C, 500 °C, 600 °C, and 700 °C, the fatigue life increased by 36.9 %, 31.7 %, 25.9 %, and 18.6 %, respectively. This research demonstrates that SGP is an effective method for increasing the high-temperature fatigue life of turbine blades.

STUDY ON SURFACE INTEGRITY AND ITS INFLUENCE ON HIGH TEMPERATURE FATIGUE BEHAVIOR WHEN TURNING POWDER METALLURGY NI-BASED SUPERALLOY

As a member of the latest generation of powder metallurgy Ni-based superalloy, FGH96 has already been widely applied in the manufacturing of aero-engines because of its distinguished mechanical performances. The surface integrity plays an essential role in the final fatigue life of the machined parts. However, surface modification induced by the machining process is inevitable, which profoundly affects the high temperature fatigue behavior of the manufactured part during the service lifetime. To cover the gap, the present work was carried out to specially study the surface integrity and its influence on high temperature fatigue behavior of powder metallurgy Ni-based superalloy when subjected to the mechanical turning process. The surface integrity, including surface morphology, micro-hardness, and depth-dependent residual stress, was initially characterized under different input parameters. High temperature fatigue tests were then conducted on the processed specimens to correlate the surface integrity and its fatigue behavior. Results showed that input parameters greatly influence the surface condition and thus the high temperature fatigue behavior. Poor integrity on machined surface leads to poor fatigue performance with typical fatigue fracture morphology, including crack initiation, propagation, and final fracture. While fine integrity on machined surface contributes to better fatigue performance. More interestingly, the fracture morphology in this situation shows similarity to the static tensile fracture, which presents shear failure along the direction of maximum shear stress.

Studies on high-temperature fatigue behaviour and mechanism for conventionally cast and directed energy deposited forms of Alloy 625

The aim of the present work is to study the low cycle fatigue (LCF) and creep-fatigue interaction (CFI) behaviour of two product forms of Alloy 625. Experiments were performed under total strain control mode using triangular and trapezoidal waveforms under complete reverse loading with R = −1, with a total strain amplitude of ±0.25 %, ±0.4 % and ±0.6 % employing a constant strain rate of 3 × 10−3 s−1 over a temperature range of 298 to 973 K. The additive manufacturing process using the directed energy deposition (DED) technique resulted in an improved fatigue life as compared with the conventional casting (CCA) route. Microstructural analysis using electron back scatter diffraction indicated that an alternating strain got generated within the microstructure and the damage was observed as a strain incompatibility within the partitioned regions of fine and neighbouring coarser grains. The preferred columnar growth occurred in the 〈001〉 direction. Inter-dendritic decohesions were attributed to the Mo, Nb and Ti enrichments. While at ambient temperature, an inter-dendritic de-cohesion and strain incompatibility was the cause for final failure, the occurrence of additional time dependent phenomena such as dynamic strain ageing (DSA), oxidation and creep triggered an earlier fatigue failure at elevated temperatures.

Defect-related strain-controlled high-temperature fatigue behavior in additive manufacturing Hastelloy X assisted with ultrasonic micro-forging treatment

Due to the defects, the performance of laser directed energy deposition (LDED) parts was restricted. This work investigated the strain-controlled high-temperature fatigue behavior of LDED Hastelloy X after ultrasonic micro-forging treatment (UMFT). Results showed that UMFT significantly increased the fatigue life twice; mathematical statistical analysis showed that the size of the fatigue source (defect) and the fatigue loading conditions accounted for the fatigue lifetime of the LDED Hastelloy X; based on the organic combination of Smith-Watson-Topper (SWT) and Stress intensity factor (SIF) models, a new defect-related strain-controlled fatigue life prediction model was proposed with the correlation coefficient of 0.93.

Room- and High-Temperature Fatigue Strength of the T5 and Rapid T6 Heat-Treated AlSi10Mg Alloy Produced by Laser-Based Powder Bed Fusion

The AlSi10Mg alloy produced by laser-based powder bed fusion (L-PBF) is widely used to produce high-value-added structural parts subjected to cyclic mechanical loads at high temperatures. The paper aims to widen the knowledge of the room- and high-temperature (200 °C) fatigue behavior of the L-PBF AlSi10Mg alloy by analyzing the fully reversed rotating bending test results on mechanically polished specimens. Two heat-treated conditions are analyzed: T5 (direct artificial aging: 4 h at 160 °C) and novel T6R (rapid solution: 10 min at 510 °C, artificial aging: 6 h at 160 °C). The study highlights that (i) the T6R alloy is characterized by higher fatigue strength at room (108 MPa) and high temperatures (92 MPa) than the T5 alloy (92 and 78 MPa, respectively); (ii) thermal exposure at 200 °C up to 17 h does not introduce macroscopical microstructural variation; (iii) fracture surfaces of the room- and high-temperature-tested specimens show comparable crack initiation, mostly from sub-superficial gas and keyhole pores, and failure propagation mechanisms. In conclusion, the L-PBF AlSi10Mg alloy offers good cyclic mechanical performances under various operating conditions, especially for the T6R alloy, and could be considered for structural components operating at temperatures up to 200 °C.

Influence of stirring process during slurry formation on the casting defects and high-temperature fatigue of rheocast AlSi7Mg alloys

The effects of the stirring phase during slurry formation on the defect’s content and the influence on the high-temperature fatigue behaviour of a rheocast AlSi7Mg alloy were investigated. Single or double-stir step was used during RheoMetal processing. Metallographic and image analysis techniques were performed to quantitatively examine the defect’s changes occurring with different stirring methods. Samples were cross-sectioned along the gauge length, and the pores content was measured. Uniaxial fatigue tests were performed at high temperature (150 °C) with the staircase method, applying a stress ratio of R = −1. Fracture surfaces were examined using a scanning electron microscope to determine the fatigue crack initiation sites, type and size of the defects. Shrinkage porosity has more probability of acting as a crack initiator than gas porosity or oxides. The double-stir step effectively reduces the size of pores compared to the conventional technique; it reduces porosity to less than half if compared to the single-stir process. Shrinkage pores distribution show a higher population of smaller pores for the double-stir process. According to the Dixon-Mood formula, the mean fatigue strengths are comparable. The capability of the double-stir to reduce porosity is evident, even having no significant effect on the high-temperature fatigue life.

High Temperature Fatigue Behavior and Failure Mechanism of Ti-45Al-4Nb-1Mo-0.15B Alloy

Strain-controlled low cycle fatigue experiments were carried out on the TiAl alloy Ti-45Al-4Nb-1Mo-0.15B at 400 °C and 750 °C to reveal the cyclic mechanical behavior and failure mechanism. The TiAl alloy presents stable cyclic characteristics under fatigue loading at elevated temperatures. No obvious cyclic softening or cyclic hardening was manifested during experiments. The cyclic stress–strain relationship is well described by the Ramberg–Osgood equation. The fatigue lifetime at different temperatures has a log-linear relationship with the total strain ranges. The fracture morphology indicates the main fracture mode of fatigue specimens at 400 °C is a brittle fracture, while there is a ductile fracture at 750 °C. Meanwhile, the trans-lamellar fracture is dominant for the lamellar microstructure and the percentages of the inter-lamellar fracture decreases with the strain amplitude.

High-temperature fatigue behavior and cyclic deformation of a gradient nanostructured RAFM steel

The gradient nanostructured (GNS) surface layer was prepared to enhance the high-temperature fatigue properties of reduced activation ferritic/martensitic (RAFM) steel. The GNS-RAFM steel showed high stability of microstructures at a high temperature of 550 ℃/60 min due to the pinning effect of M23C6 and MX precipitates, which contributed to an improvement of fatigue life at 550 ℃/260 MPa by 5.5 times compared to the original one. Moreover, the high-temperature fatigue resistance enhancement in the SMRT samples was supposed to be the synergistic contribution of compressive residual stress arising, grain nanocrystallization/refinement, and the strain delocalization introduced in the gradient nanostructure.

High temperature fatigue behavior of a near-alpha titanium alloy

High-cycle and very-high-cycle fatigue at 450 °C in near-α titanium with bi-modal microstructure are investigated. Stress-life duality appears with one data group spanning from 105 to 107 and the other from 107 to 109 cycles, characterized by surface and subsurface cracking, respectively. Misfit strain induced by the high misorientation of a particular primary α-grain relative to its surroundings, termed as local texture, promotes the subsurface fatigue-crack initiation. Fatigue strength increases up to 100 MPa owing to cyclic pre-strain at 450 °C, but the duality remains. Strain hardening by activation of prismatic <a> slip is responsible for the improved fatigue strength.

Effect of prestraining on high-temperature fatigue behaviour of two Ni-base superalloys

Article Effect of prestraining on high-temperature fatigue behaviour of two Ni-base superalloys was published on June 1, 2004 in the journal International Journal of Materials Research (volume 95, issue 6).

Isothermal high-temperature fatigue behaviour of a near-γ titanium aluminide alloy

AbstractThe high-temperature fatigue behaviour of smooth cylindrical specimens of a near-γ-TiAl alloy with duplex microstructure was studied performing total-strain-controlled low-cycle-fatigue tests in the temperature range 500 – 750 °C. The tests were run in air and high vacuum. Mean stress, environmental degradation (oxygen- and hydrogen-induced embrittlement) and plastic strain range were identified to be the most significant parameters affecting damage evolution. The cyclic stress– strain response was found to depend strongly and characteristically on temperature. Below the brittle-to-ductile-transition temperature (TBD) of about 650 °C, cyclic deformation leads to a pronounced initial hardening manifesting itself in an increase of stress amplitude and a decrease of plastic strain range. Conversely, cyclic deformation curves from tests performed aboveTBDshow a marked state of saturation which is established already after few cycles. With increasing temperature, fatigue life decreases in vacuum. However, testing in air not only decreases fatigue life tremendously as compared to vacuum, but also leads to an inverse temperature effect, i. e., the number of cycles to failure increases with temperature.

Effect of microstructures restoration on high temperature fatigue behavior of DZ125 superalloy

Combination of hot isostatic pressing (HIP) and rejuvenation heat treatment (RHT) technology was used to restore creep-damaged DZ125 directional solidified superalloy, and the influence of microstructure restoration on high temperature fatigue behavior of the samples was explored. The results show that the HIP+RHT process could effectively heal internal cavities and recover the degraded γ′ phase in creep-damaged DZ125 superalloy to cubic particles similar as in as-received sample. After restoration treatment, the stress concentration areas inside the sample eradicated with the healing of the internal cavities, and the fatigue source areas were limited only to near surface than initiating from inside as in the as-received and creep-damaged samples. As a result, the restored sample had higher crack initiation life and lower crack propagation rate compared to as-received and creep damaged samples. The TEM microstructure characterization near fatigue fracture showed that the restoration of the degraded γ′ phase eliminated tangled dislocation in creep damaged sample and produced evenly distributed dislocations in the γ channel with short curved line-like morphology, like the as-received sample, which effectively hindered the dislocations movement during subsequent deformation, and strengthen the fatigue resistant of alloy. Therefore, it can be concluded that the HIP-RHT process, through the combined effect of internal cavities healing and the restoration of the degraded microstructures, renders higher high temperature fatigue life than creep-damaged and even higher than as-received DZ125 superalloy.

Influence of Shot Peening on the Isothermal Fatigue Behavior of the Gamma Titanium Aluminide Ti-48Al-2Cr-2Nb at 750 °C

One possibility to improve the fatigue life and strength of metallic materials is shot peening. However, at elevated temperatures, the induced residual stresses may relax. To investigate the influence of shot peening on high-temperature fatigue behavior, isothermal fatigue tests were conducted on shot-peened and untreated samples of gamma TiAl 48-2-2 at 750 °C in air. The shot-peened material was characterized using EBSD, microhardness, and residual stress analyses. Shot peening leads to a significant increase in surface hardness and high compressive residual stresses near the surface. Both effects may have a positive influence on lifetime. However, it also leads to surface notches and tensile residual stresses in the bulk material with a negative impact on cyclic lifetime. During fully reversed uniaxial tension-compression fatigue tests (R = −1) at a stress amplitude of 260 MPa, the positive effects dominate, and the fatigue lifetime increases. At a lower stress amplitude of 230 MPa, the negative effect of internal tensile residual stresses dominates, and the lifetime decreases. Shot peening leads to a transition from surface to volume crack initiation if the surface is not damaged by the shots.

High temperature fatigue of heat treated secondary AlSi7Cu3Mg alloys

The high-temperature fatigue behaviour of a heat treated AlSi7Cu3Mg alloy is reported. Fatigue testing has been performed at room and higher temperatures (473 and 573 K) on specimens previously solubilised at 758 K for 24 h and further aged at 453 K for 8 h. Microstructural and fractographic investigations have been used to quantitatively examine the evolution of strengthening precipitates and the different fracture mechanisms. The results show how the fatigue behaviour is comparable in the temperature range between 293 and 473 K. Then, the fatigue strength decreases by increasing the testing temperature from 473 to 573 K. The uniform distribution of fine strengthening precipitates in the α-Al matrix is affected by higher test temperature, which promotes coarsening phenomena of the precipitates. The failure mode changes from brittle to ductile at 573 K.

High-temperature fatigue behavior of a steam turbine rotor under flexible operating conditions with variable loading amplitudes

This study investigated the high-temperature fatigue behavior of a steam turbine rotor under long-term operation with multiple startup types including one cold, three warm and 16 hot-startups at intervals of 45 days. To better describe the mechanical behavior of the rotor material, a unified viscoplastic constitutive model was experimentally validated then implemented with a user-defined material. Analysis initially focused on the inlet region, where thermal loads dominated. Next, the stress and damage at three selected positions with differences in temperature and load were compared and analyzed in detail. The effect of different startup types on the fatigue damage was statistically assessed. The equivalent hot startup (EHS) ratio was calculated to compare the risk level of each position under each startup type in flexible operation mode. Investigation of the inlet region showed that the warm startup conditions adopted here were more damaging than cold startup due to the higher warmup rate. The analysis of fatigue damage showed a temperature-dependent characteristic of the thermo-mechanical load-dominated positions. The EHS ratio of Groove-1 was larger than that of Groove-4, indicating a higher risk level in Groove-1 under flexible operating conditions. For the inlet region, the accumulation of viscoplastic strain made this region a fatigue-damageable position.

High-Temperature Low-Cycle Fatigue Behavior of HS80H Ferritic–Martensitic Steel Under Dynamic Strain Aging

In this work, low-cycle fatigue tests were performed on HS80H ferritic–martensitic steel with the strain amplitudes ranging from 0.5 to 2.0% at room temperature and 350 °C. The cyclic stress response at 350 °C was found to be different from that at room temperature due to the effect of dynamic strain aging and showed a significant secondary hardening when the strain values were 0.5 and 0.7%. Furthermore, the dynamic strain aging effect also resulted in an abnormal increase in fatigue life when the strain was 0.7%, which was due to the change in elastic strain. Additionally, the elastic strain and fatigue life were bilinear relations in the double logarithmic coordinates. Finally, the transmission electron microscope observations showed that the dynamic strain aging led to the change in substructure, while the grain was refined.