An improved method to identify grain boundary creep cavitation in 316H austenitic stainless steel

On the Influence of the Initial Shear Damage to the Cyclic Deformation and Damage Mechanism

The accuracy and precision of lifetime predictions for cyclically loaded technical components are still lacking. One of the main reasons for the discrepancy between the calculated life time and experimental results is that it is not yet possible to create a model capable of describing the microstructural damage process that occurs in the tested material and to subsequently incorporate this model into the calculation. All of the presently available research results recognize that the growth of microcracks is significantly influenced by the microstructure of the material. In order to take into account the influence of the microstructure on the damage process, research on the very early fatigue damage is carried out. The results are obtained from tension and torsion fatigue testing. For this purpose, the surfaces of the tested specimens are carefully observed to discover and analyze microcracks, which are classified according to their orientation. Moreover, the mechanisms of crack initiation and propagation are major points of interest. Through a mix of mechanical and metallurgical points of view, calculations and multi-level FEA modeling are carried out to gain a better understanding of the properties of the phases. The simulation is based on continuum mechanics, which considers the positions and mechanical metallurgy, which account for each constituent character’s failure laws. It is concluded that both the experimental and computational approaches conform, showing that such an approach is indeed a necessity and should become a trend in the near future. Statistically, microcracks under tension modes are highest at 45° (approximately 30%), while under torsion they are highest at 0° (approximately 20%) with respect to the sample orientation. The influence of the microstructure is explained via the finite element analysis.

An Investigation into Creep Cavity Development in 316H Stainless Steel

Creep-induced cavitation is an important failure mechanism in steel components operating at high temperature. Robust techniques are required to observe and quantify creep cavitation. In this paper, the use of two complementary analysis techniques: small-angle neutron scattering (SANS), and quantitative metallography, using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), is reported. The development of creep cavities that is accumulated under uniaxial load has been studied as a function of creep strain and life fraction, by carrying out interrupted tests on two sets of creep test specimens that are prepared from a Type-316H austenitic stainless steel reactor component. In order to examine the effects of pre-strain on creep damage formation, one set of specimens was subjected to a plastic pre-strain of 8%, and the other set had no pre-strain. Each set of specimens was subjected to different loading and temperature conditions, representative of those of current and future power plant operation. Cavities of up to 300 nm in size are quantified by using SANS, and their size distribution, as a function of determined creep strain. Cavitation increases significantly as creep strain increases throughout creep life. These results are confirmed by quantitative metallography analysis.

Precipitation within localised chromium-enriched regions in a Type 316H austenitic stainless steel

A Type 316H austenitic stainless steel component containing Cr and impurity element-rich localised regions arising from component fabrication was aged for a prolonged period during service at a temperature of approximately 550 °C. These regions make up approximately 5% of the total volume of the microstructure. Previous work has shown that these regions contain ferrite and carbide precipitates and a finer austenite grain size than the adjacent matrix. The present study has used high-resolution transmission electron microscopy combined with compositional microanalysis to show that these regions have a highly complex microstructure containing G phase, chi phase and intragranular γ' precipitates within the austenite grains. There is phosphorus migration to the chi austenite phase boundary, and the basis for this equilibrium impurity segregation is discussed. A Cr-depleted region was observed surrounding the chi phase precipitates, and the impact of this on the other precipitates is considered. The diversity of precipitates in these Cr-rich regions means that they behave significantly differently to the bulk material under long-term creep conditions leading to preferred nucleation and growth of creep cavities and the formation of localised creep cracks during service.