High Temperature Fatigue Behaviour Of Austenitic Stainless Steel

The global energy consumption is increasing and together with global warming from greenhouse gas emission, create the need for more environmental friendly energy production processes. Higher efficiency of biomass power plants can be achieved by increasing temperature and pressure in the boiler section and this would increase the generation of electricity along with the reduction in emission of greenhouse gases e.g. CO2. The power generation must also be flexible to be able to follow the demands of the energy market, this results in a need for cyclic operating conditions with alternating output and multiple start-ups and shut-downs. Because of the demands of flexibility, higher temperature and higher pressure in the boiler section of future biomass power plants, the demands on improved mechanical properties of the materials of these components are also increased. Properties like creep strength, thermomechanical fatigue resistance and high temperature corrosion resistance are critical for materials used in the next generation biomass power plants. Austenitic stainless steels are known to possess such good high temperature properties and are relatively cheap compared to the nickel-base alloys, which are already operating at high temperature cyclic conditions in other applications. The behaviour of austenitic stainless steels during these widened operating conditions are not yet fully understood. The aim of this licentiate thesis is to increase the knowledge of the mechanical behaviour at high temperature cyclic conditions for austenitic stainless steels. This is done by the use of thermomechanical fatigue- and creepfatigue testing at elevated temperatures. For safety reasons, the effect of prolonged service degradation is investigated by pre-ageing before mechanical testing. Microscopy is used to investigate the microstructural development and resulting damage behaviour of the austenitic stainless steels after testing. The results show that creep-fatigue interaction damage, creep damage and oxidation assisted cracking are present at high temperature cyclic conditions. In addition, simulated service degradation resulted in a detrimental embrittling effect due to the deterioration by the microstructural evolution.

This book represents the final reports of the scientific projects funded within the DFG-SPP1466 and, hence, provides the reader with the possibility to familiarize with the leading edge of VHCF research. It draws a balance on the existing knowledge and its enhancement by the joint research action of the priority program. Three different material classes are dealt with: structural metallic materials, long-fiber-reinforced polymers and materials used in micro-electro-mechanical systems. The project topics address the development of suitable experimental techniques for high-frequency testing and damage monitoring, the characterization of damage mechanisms and damage evolution, the development of mechanism-based models and the transfer of the obtained knowledge and understanding into engineering regulations and applications.

About 35 years ago, thermal fatigue was identified as an important phenomenon which limited the lifetime of high temperature plant. In the intervening years many investigations have been carried out, primarily to give guidance on likely endurance (especially in the presence of time dependent deformation) but latterly, with the introduction of sophisticated testing machines, to provide knowledge of the underlying mechanisms of failure. A previous edited book (Fatigue at High Temperature, Elsevier Applied Science Publishers, 1983) summarised the state-of-the-art of high temperature fatigue testing and examined the factors influencing life, such as stress state, environment and microstructural effects. It also considered, in some detail, cyclic crack growth as a more rigorous approach to life limitation. The aim of the present volume (which in style and format follows exactly the same lines as its predecessor) is once again to pursue the desire to translate detailed laboratory knowledge into engineering design and assessment. There is, for example, a need to consider the limitations of the laboratory specimen and its relationship with engineering features. Many design procedures still rely on a simple endurance approach based on failure of a smooth specimen, and this is taken to indicate crack initiation in the component. In this volume, therefore, crack propagation is covered only incidentally, emphasis being placed instead on basic cyclic stress strain properties, non-isothermal behaviour, metallography, failure criteria and the need for agreed testing procedures.

Advanced heat resistant materials are important to achieve the transition to long term sustainable power generation. The global increase in energy consumption and the global warming from greenhouse gas emissions create the need for more sustainable power generation processes. Biomass-fired power plants with higher efficiency could generate more power but also reduce the emission of greenhouse gases, e.g. CO2. Biomass offers no net contribution of CO2 to the atmosphere. To obtain greater efficiency of power plants, one option is to increase the temperature and the pressure in the boiler section of the power plant. This requires improved material properties, such as higher yield strength, creep strength and high-temperature corrosion resistance, as well as structural integrity and safety. Today, some austenitic stainless steels are design to withstand temperatures up to 650 °C in tough environments. Nickel-based alloys are designed to withstand even higher temperatures. Austenitic stainless steels are more cost effective than nickel-based alloys due to a lower amount of expensive alloying elements. However, the performance of austenitic stainless steels at the elevated temperatures of future operation conditions in biomass-red power plants is not yet fully understood. This thesis presents research on the influence of long term high-temperature ageing on mechanical properties, the influence of very slow deformation rates at high-temperature on deformation, damage and fracture, and the influence of high-temperature environment and cyclic operation conditions on the material behaviour. Mechanical and thermal testing have been performed followed by subsequent studies of the microstructure, using scanning electron microscopy, to investigate the material behaviours. Results shows that long term ageing at high temperatures leads to the precipitation of intermetallic phases. These intermetallic phases are brittle at room temperature and become detrimental for the impact toughness of some of the austenitic stainless steels. During slow strain rate tensile deformation at elevated temperature time dependent deformation and recovery mechanisms are pronounced. The creep-fatigue interaction behaviour of an austenitic stainless steel show that dwell time gives shorter life at a lower strain range, but has none or small effect on the life at a higher strain range. Finally, this research results in an increased knowledge of the structural, mechanical and chemical behaviour as well as a deeper understanding of the deformation, damage and fracture mechanisms that occur in heat resistant austenitic alloys at high-temperature environments. It is believed that in the long term, this can contribute to material development achieving the transition to more sustainable power generation in biomass-red power plants.

What can be added to the fracture mechanics of metal fatigue that has not already been said since the 1900s? From the view point of the material and structure engineer, there are many aspects of failure by fatigue that are in need of attention, particularly when the size and time of the working components are changed by orders of magnitude from those considered by st traditional means. The 21 century marks an era of technology transition where structures are made larger and devices are made smaller, rendering the method of destructive testing unpractical. While health monitoring entered the field of science and engineering, the practitioners are discovering that the correlation between the signal and the location of interest depends on a priori knowledge of where failure may initiate. This information is not easy to find because the integrity of the physical system will change with time. Required is software that can self-adjust in time according to the monitored data. In this connection, effective application of health monitoring can use a predictive model of fatigue crack growth. Earlier fatigue crack growth models assumed functional dependence on the maximum stress and the size of the pre-existing crack or defect. Various possibilities were examined in the hope that the data could be grouped such that linear interpolation would apply.