Simulations of cavitation processes on a grain boundary under creep conditions have been carried out, taking into account nucleation, growth, coalescence and sintering of multiple cavities. Cavity growth rates have been calculated through a resolution procedure based on the use of holomorphic complex functions. Three dimensionless parameters have been identified that are responsible for the cavitation development. Parameter studies have been carried out in order to characterise the mechanisms that are responsible for the cavitation development. These studies have been used to develop a physically motivated, simplified model in order to describe the cavitation development of the simulations in terms of global state variables. The simplified model is able to reproduce the cavitation development for all considered combinations of the dimensionless parameters and allows the description of the thickening behaviour of a cavitating grain boundary.
A micromechanical model of creep induced grain boundary damage is proposed, which allows for the simulation of creep damage in a polycrystal with the finite element method. Grain boundary cavitation and sliding are considered via a micromechanically motivated cohesive zone model, while the grains creep following the slip system theory. The model has been calibrated with creep test data from pure Cu single crystals and a coarse-grained polycrystalline Cu-Sb alloy. The test data includes porosity measurements and estimates of grain boundary sliding. Finally, the model has been applied to Voronoi models of polycrystalline structures. In particular the influence of grain boundary sliding on the overall creep rate is demonstrated.
Creep damage of single-crystal nickel base superalloys: mechanisms and effect on low cycle fatigue
(2010)
The main mechanisms of creep damage of single-crystal nickel-base superalloys are the loss of the interface coherency, coarsening of the γ / γ'-microstructure, precipitation of topologically closed packed phases and growth of porosity. This degradation deteriorates the mechanical properties such as yield stress, creep lifetime and especially low-cycle fatigue life, which can be reduced nearly by a factor of 10. The degradation kinetics during creep was characterised quantitatively on the superalloy CMSX-4. A new non-destructive testing technique was applied to cover a wide test parameter range with few specimens in a relatively short time: repeated load annealing of wedge shaped specimens.