In this study, the creep crack growth （CCG） properties and fracture mechanism of a Cr-Mo-V steel at 566 C in compact tension （CT） specimens were investigated, and the CCG rate was predicted by using the NSW model. The results show that the CCG rate measured by CT specimens is much lower than that predicted by the NSW model under plane-strain state. This means that the NSW model prediction for the CCG rate of the steel is over-conservative. In addition, the CCG rate da/dt versus C measured by the experiments shows the piecewise linear relation on log-log scale instead of a single linear relation predicted by the NSW model. The main reasons for these results are that the actual creep fracture mechanism of the steel and the actual creep crack tip stress field in the CT specimens have not been fully captured in the NSW model. The experimental observation shows that the creep crack propagates in a discontinuous way （step by step） at meso-scale, and the cracks at micro-scale are usually formed by the growth and coalescence of voids on grain boundaries. The NSW model based on the creep ductility exhaustion approach may not correctly describe this creep fracture process. In addition, the opening stress and triaxial stress ahead of crack tips calculated by three-dimensional finite element method is lower than those predicted by the HRR stress field which is used in the NSW model under plane-strain state. The use of the high HRR stress field will cause high CCG rates. The change in the creep fracture mechanism at micro-scale in different ranges of C may cause the piecewise linear relation between the da/dt and C . Therefore, it is necessary to study the actual CCG mechanism in a wide range of C and the actual creep crack tip stress field to establish accurate CCG prediction models.
The fractal dimension（FD） of surfaces has been widely used to characterize the properties of materials.However,most of the previous researches were concentrated on the correlation between the FD of surfaces and mechanical properties of materials,such as impact energy and fracture toughness,etc.The aim of this paper is to characterize the spheroidization grade and strength of 15CrMo steel through determination of FD of cementite phase on the basis of two-dimension microstructural image.Two methods,namely slit-island method（SIM） and box-counting method（BCM）,are used to determine the value of FD.It is found that the FD value evaluated by using BCM is generally higher than that evaluated by SIM.This phenomenon may be due to the difference in the principles used in different methods.Whether SIM or BCM is used,the spheroidization grade in 15CrMo steel linearly increases with decreasing the value of FD.The relationship between the FD value,D,and spheroidization grade,Sg,can be approximately expressed as D≌-0.11Sg＋A,where A is a constant value which is depended on the evaluation method.Both the ultimate strength and the yielding strength of 15CrMo steel increase with increasing FD of cementite phase.There may be a common relationship between the FD of cementite phase and strength of 15CrMo steel.When the FD of cementite phase in 15CrMo steel is determined,the strength of this steel can be evaluated.The present paper can provide a novel method to evaluate the strength and spheroidization grade of carbon steel through determination of fractal dimension（FD） of cementite phase.
The creep behavior of the plasma sprayed NiCr and NiCrA1 coating/Nickel alloy 690 substrate systems at 1033 K was investigated. Results showed that there was almost no difference in the creep lives between the NiCr and NiCrA1 coated specimens at a given stress level, since the contents of Cr used in the NiCr and NiCrA1 powders are almost same. The relationship between the minimum creep rate and the applied stress followed the well-known Norton＇s power law, εmin=Aσ^n, with the values of A=2.66×10^-16 MPa^-n·h^-1 and n=6.48. The relation between the applied stress and time to rupture of the coated specimens can be estimated by using Larson-Miller equation. The θ projection method can be used to accurately characterize the creep behavior of the coated specimens.
Creep-fatigue interaction is one of the main damage mechanisms in high temperature plants and their components. Assessment of creep-fatigue properties is of practical importance for design and operation of high temperature components. However, the standard evaluation techniques, i.e. time fraction rule and ductility exhaustion one have limitations in accounting for the effects of control mode on the cyclic deformations. It was found that conventional linear cumulative damage rule failed in accurately evaluating the creep-fatigue life under stress controlled condition. The calculated creep damages by time fraction rule were excessively high, which led to overly conservative prediction of failure lives. In the present study, it was suggested that such over estimation of creep damage was mainly caused by anelastic strain upon stress loading. For precise assessment under conditions of stress control, a modified creep damage model accounting for the effect of anelastic creep was proposed. The assessments of creep fatigue data under stress controlled condition were performed with the new approach developed in this paper for a rotor material and a boiler material used in ultra supercritical power plants. It was shown that a more moderate amount of creep damage was obtained by the new model, which gave better predictions of failure life.
