The effect of creep-fatigue conditions on structural components is not completely understood, and so the prediction of the behaviour and lifetime of such components is often unreliable and inaccurate. One of the methods proposed to improve the predictions is continuum damage mechanics, which provides a general description of material behaviour under degrading conditions. An estimate of life is usually based on the initial behaviour of a component. However, the work of previous researchers has shown that accurate predictions of the creep life of structures require that the stress redistribution due to the growth of damage is taken into account. In this thesis, this work is extended to fatigue and the effect of fatigue damage on life and deformation is studied for multibar model structures. The non-linear kinematic hardening rule is introduced as a constitutive law for cyclic plasticity that models many aspects of the cyclic behaviour of metals. Its properties are studied and it is extended to include the effects of damage on cyclic deformation. Creep-fatigue is studied by combining the models for fatigue and creep. Using published material data, the creep-fatigue behaviour of a two bar structure is studied and the results are compared with some experimental results. A study is made of finite element methods for solving problems involving plasticity and an example problem is solved. A model for the multiaxial behaviour of damaged material is proposed and examined for simple cases. The studies show that stress redistribution has a significant effect on fatigue life and the qualitative properties of the uniaxial models are very close to experimental observations. However, a lack of suitable and consistent experimental data on material behaviour means that the lifetime predictions and the multiaxial models are of uncertain accuracy.

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Premature failures of vital gas turbine components, such as blades and vanes, have been the result of increasing demands of power generation facilities. As power needs fluctuate throughout the day, operators are quickly firing up gas turbines as a means of providing instant power. Traditionally, these engines run at constant operating conditions; however, contemporary operating conditions call for these engines to be applied on an “as necessary” basis. The result of the cyclic startup and shutdown of gas turbines has led to a phenomenon known as creep-fatigue (CF). A coupling of two primary failure mechanisms in gas turbines, CF conditions exacerbate the mechanisms of creep and fatigue, ultimately leading to a premature failure of components. Traditionally, independent creep and fatigue analyses are conducted to determine the limiting life factor of gas turbines. Recently, fracture mechanics approaches have been successfully used in extending the traditional analyses to include fatigue- and creep-crack growth analyses. Founded on existing approaches to creep-fatigue crack growth analyses, including experimental elastic and plastic fracture mechanics approaches, a coupled creep-fatigue crack initiation and propagation model is developed. To bring these models to fruition, the current study utilizes the development of an experimental setup capable of subjecting a modified fracture specimen to creep-fatigue conditions. With two test temperatures key to turbine components, a blunt notch compact tension specimen was subjected to trapezoidal load waveforms with various lengths of holds at maximum load. A developed direct current potential drop (DCPD) system was used to monitor crack initiation and crack lengths throughout the duration of tests. Numerical simulations on a representative specimen were conducted, to correlate and predict key fracture mechanics parameters used in the development of creep-fatigue crack initiation and propagation models. iv Metallurgical analysis of specimens was conducted, implementing both optical and scanning electron microscopy. From the experimental and numerical studies, a model for both the initiation and propagation of cracks on a single specimen is furnished. Through the use of elastic-plastic fracture mechanics parameters, the proposed models are observed to predict crack initiation and replicate crack propagation rates based on the experimental conditions. Assisting in the implementation of the proposed models, intended uses and applications for the models are provided, simplifying the life prediction analyses for components expected to fail due to creepfatigue service conditions.

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No description available.

It has been conventional to simplify the thermo-mechanical modeling of solder joints by omitting the primary (transient) contributions to total creep deformation, assuming that secondary (steady-state) creep strain is dominant and primary creep is negligible. The error associated with this assumption has been difficult to assess because it depends on the properties of the solder joint and the temperature-time profile. This research examines the relative contributions of primary and secondary creep in Sn3.8Ag0.7Cu solder using the constant load creep and stress relaxation measurements for bulk tensile specimens and the finite element analysis of a chip resistor (trilayer) solder joint structure that was thermally cycled under multiple temperature ranges and ramp rates. It was found that neglect of primary creep can result in errors in the predicted stress and strain of the solder joint. In turn, these discrepancies can lead to errors in the estimation of the solder thermal fatigue life due to the changing proportion of primary creep strain to total inelastic strain under different thermal profiles. The constant-load creep and stress relaxation data for Sn3.8Ag0.7Cu span a range of strain rates 10(-8) 1/s < strain rate < 10(-4) 1/s, and temperatures 25°C, 75°C and 100°C. Creep and stress relaxation measurements show that transient creep caused faster strain rates during stress relaxation for a given stress compared to the corresponding minimum creep rate from constant-load creep tests. The extent of strain hardening during primary creep was a function of temperature and strain rate. A constitutive creep model was presented for Sn3.8Ag0.7Cu that incorporates both transient and steady-state creep to provide agreement for both creep and stress relaxation data with a single set of eight coefficients. The model utilizes both temperature compensated time and strain rate to normalize minimum strain rate and saturated transient creep strain, thereby establishing equivalence between decreased temperature and increased strain rate. The apparent activation energy of steady-state creep was indicative of both dislocation core and bulk lattice diffusion was the most sensitive model parameter. A saturation threshold was defined that distinguishes whether primary or secondary creep is dominant under either static or variable loading.

It has been conventional to simplify the thermo-mechanical modeling of solder joints by omitting the primary (transient) contributions to total creep deformation, assuming that secondary (steady-state) creep strain is dominant and primary creep is negligible. The error associated with this assumption has been difficult to assess because it depends on the properties of the solder joint and the temperature-time profile. This research examines the relative contributions of primary and secondary creep in Sn3.8Ag0.7Cu solder using the constant load creep and stress relaxation measurements for bulk tensile specimens and the finite element analysis of a chip resistor (trilayer) solder joint structure that was thermally cycled under multiple temperature ranges and ramp rates. It was found that neglect of primary creep can result in errors in the predicted stress and strain of the solder joint. In turn, these discrepancies can lead to errors in the estimation of the solder thermal fatigue life due to the changing proportion of primary creep strain to total inelastic strain under different thermal profiles. The constant-load creep and stress relaxation data for Sn3.8Ag0.7Cu span a range of strain rates 10(-8) 1/s < strain rate < 10(-4) 1/s, and temperatures 25°C, 75°C and 100°C. Creep and stress relaxation measurements show that transient creep caused faster strain rates during stress relaxation for a given stress compared to the corresponding minimum creep rate from constant-load creep tests. The extent of strain hardening during primary creep was a function of temperature and strain rate. A constitutive creep model was presented for Sn3.8Ag0.7Cu that incorporates both transient and steady-state creep to provide agreement for both creep and stress relaxation data with a single set of eight coefficients. The model utilizes both temperature compensated time and strain rate to normalize minimum strain rate and saturated transient creep strain, thereby establishing equivalence between decreased temperature and increased strain rate. The apparent activation energy of steady-state creep was indicative of both dislocation core and bulk lattice diffusion was the most sensitive model parameter. A saturation threshold was defined that distinguishes whether primary or secondary creep is dominant under either static or variable loading.

Increasing energy demand leads to two crucial problems for the whole society. One is the economic cost and the other is the pollution of the environment, especially CO2 emissions. Despite efforts to adopt renewable energy sources, fossil fuels will continue to dominate. The temperature and stress are planned to be raised to 700 °C and 35 MPa respectively in the advanced ultra-supercritical (AUSC) power plants to improve the operating efficiency. However, the life of the components is limited by the properties of the materials. The aim of this thesis is to investigate the high temperature properties of materials used for future power plants. This thesis contains two parts. The first part is about developing creep rupture models for austenitic stainless steels. Grain boundary sliding (GBS) models have been proposed that can predict experimental results. Creep cavities are assumed to be generated at intersection of subboundaries with subboundary corners or particles on a sliding grain boundary, the so called double ledge model. For the first time a quantitative prediction of cavity nucleation for different types of commercial austenitic stainless steels has been made. For growth of creep cavities a new model for the interaction between the shape change of cavities and creep deformation has been proposed. In this constrained growth model, the affected zone around the cavities has been calculated with the help of FEM simulation. The new growth model can reproduce experimental cavity growth behavior quantitatively for different kinds of austenitic stainless steels. Based on the cavity nucleation models and the new growth models, the brittle creep rupture of austenitic stainless steels has been determined. By combing the brittle creep rupture with the ductile creep rupture models, the creep rupture strength of austenitic stainless steels has been predicted quantitatively. The accuracy of the creep rupture prediction can be improved significantly with combination of the two models. The second part of the thesis is on the fatigue properties of austenitic stainless steels and nickel based superalloys. Firstly, creep, low cycle fatigue (LCF) and creep-fatigue tests have been conducted for a modified HR3C (25Cr20NiNbN) austenitic stainless steel. The modified HR3C shows good LCF properties, but lower creep and creep-fatigue properties which may due to the low ductility of the material. Secondly, LCF properties of a nickel based superalloy Haynes 282 have been studied. Tests have been performed for a large ingot. The LCF properties of the core and rim positions did not show evident differences. Better LCF properties were observed when compared with two other low γ’ volume fraction nickel based superalloys. Metallography study results demonstrated that the failure mode of the material was transgranular. Both the initiation and growth of the fatigue cracks were transgranular. / <p>QC 20160905</p>

This dissertation examines life-time management of process and energetic devices in industrial practice, mainly in the area of steam power plants. Furthermore, it focuses on frequent damage mechanisms occurring in this area. It summarizes basics of damaging mechanisms occurring in the process industry area, their monitoring, evaluation and prediction. In the area of steam power plants, the main emphasize was placed on cumulative damage mechanisms. Within the dissertation, mechanisms of creep, fatigue, and their combinations were assessed. Major European standards were examined in order to discuss the amount of contained conservatism and their usability. Subsequently, attention was paid to the methods applicable for creep and fatigue combination evaluation. In the next step life-time monitoring and evaluation standard was discussed. The diagnostic software was created which includes creep, fatigue and creep-fatigue combination evaluation according to valid standards. For online life-time evaluation was proposed refined analytical solution for stress and strain calculation. To further extend the life-time management, the dissertation describes oxide scale damaging together with its evaluation and implementation into diagnostic software. The proposed software is extended by the material module which on the basis of defined materials allows easy and effective usage of material characteristics. For the purpose of refining life-time prediction accuracy, experimental device was schematically described. In addition, the device should be also able to verify used equations. Furthermore, the dissertation includes solution to industrially oriented cases. Firstly, a steam generator with damaged pipes was analyzed, afterwards damaged transferring pipeline. Further analyses deal with U-tube heat exchanger and its damaging. The causes of damage were discovered and corrective measures were proposed. The dissertation concludes with the summarization of potential activities for subsequent research in examined area.

L’analyse de la durée de vie des joints brasés est un challenge pour les industries du spatiale, de l’aéronautique et de la défense qui ont besoin d’équipements très fiables pour des environnements sévères et de longues durées de vie. L’évolution des technologies de boitier électronique, principalement conduite par les marchés civils, introduit de nouvelles architectures et de nouveaux matériaux dont la fiabilité doit être étudiée pour les exigences de ces marchés critiques. Un des éléments critiques d’une carte électronique est l’interconnexion effectué par le joint brasé. Dans ce contexte, les connaissances des propriétés de fatigue des matériaux utilisés pour le joint brasé sont nécessaires pour développer des cartes électroniques, définir les essais accélérés de qualification ou pour réaliser des simulations de durée de vie.Les lois utilisées communément dans l’industrie sont généralement des critères simplifiés comme les lois de Coffin-Manson, basée sur la déformation inélastique, ou Morrow, basée sur l’énergie dissipée. Les déformations plastique et visqueuse sont dans ces lois indissociées et appelées déformation inélastique, supposant que les contributions au dommage des déformations plastique et visqueuse sont similaires. Cependant, la pertinence de ces lois dans le cas du matériau joint brasé et les profils de mission des marchés critiques doit être étudiée. En effet, le joint brasé possède une température de fusion faible qui entraine un comportement visqueux même à température ambiante. Celle-ci est nécessaire à l’étape d’assemblage des boitiers. Ainsi, d’importantes déformations visqueuses sont développées notamment pour les environnements sévères et les longues phases de maintien de ces marchés critiques. Dans ce contexte, il est important de prendre en compte l’interaction fatigue-fluage dans les matériaux joint brasé pour atteindre les exigences de ces applications.Les limitations de la littérature sont le manque de données expérimentales précises dissociant les déformations plastique et visqueuse en essai de fatigue. La représentativité des éprouvettes massiques par rapport à l’application finales est en effet discutable au vue de la microstructure très spécifique du joint brasé. De plus, il n’existe pas de consensus réel sur les modèles matériaux à utiliser. Dans ce contexte, un banc de mesure a été développé dans le but de réaliser des essais de fatigue en cisaillement sur des boitiers électroniques assemblés.Le temps de maintien, la température et la force appliquée ont un impact sur le nombre de cycles à défaillance. La combinaison d’une augmentation de la température avec l’ajout du temps de maintien réduit jusqu’à un facteur dix le nombre de cycles à rupture. Les courbes d’hystérésis du boitier ont été converties en contrainte et déformations plastique et visqueuse dans le joint brasé dans le but de calibrer un modèle matériau et une loi de fatigue. Les résultats montrent que l’intérêt des lois de fatigue utilisées communément est limité. Des résultats utilisant différents dispositifs expérimentaux de la littérature ont été ajoutés pour compléter ceux trouvés. Une loi de fatigue modifiée en fréquence a été testée et montre de meilleures prédictions dans le cas d’essais réalisés à différentes fréquences car elle permet de prendre des effets liés au temps comme la viscosité. Cependant, des limites avec cette loi ont été trouvées dans le cas de sollicitation avec temps de maintien. Une loi de fatigue prenant en compte l’interaction fatigue fluage a ensuite été proposée avec de bonnes prédictions notamment pour des températures plus élevées. L’évolution de la microstructure a montré que le dommage détruit la structure dendritique du joint et la remplace par des joints de tailles plus petites dans la zone proche de la fissure. La coalescence d’éléments a également été observée. Cependant, plus d’investigations sont nécessaires pour définir les marqueurs spécifiques des dommages plastique et visqueux. / Solder joints reliability analysis represents a challenge for the aerospace and defense industries, which are in need of trustworthy equipment with a long lifetime in harsh environments. The evolution of electronic packages, driven by consumer civil applications, introduces new architectures and materials for which reliability needs to be qualified for the constraints of the aerospace and defense applications. One of the most critical elements of an electronic assembly is the solder joint interconnection. In this context, the knowledge of fatigue properties of solder material is required to design the assemblies, to define accelerated tests or to perform lifetime simulations.Fatigue laws used commonly in the industry are generally simplified criteria such as Coffin-Manson relation, based on inelastic deformation, or Morrow relation, based on dissipated energy per cycle. Cyclic creep and plastic strains are mingled and formulated as a unique inelastic strain in these relationships. The underlying assumption is that damage contributions of creep and plasticity phenomena are equivalent. The relevance of these laws in the case of solder joint and the mission profiles of aerospace and defense industries can be discussed. In fact, solder joint materials have low melting temperatures which are required by the assembly manufacturing process, inducing viscous strains even at room temperature. In this context, important viscous strains are developed due to the harsh environment with high temperatures and the long maintain phases of space, defense and avionics industries. Creep-fatigue interaction must be taken into account for solder joint material in order to address these applications requirements.Limitations of the literature are the lack of clear experimental data separating plastic and creep strains during fatigue tests. Representativeness of experimental tests based on bulk samples can be discussed because of the complex microstructure of solder joints. No consensus exists on the mechanical model and the parameters. In this context, an innovative test bench has been developed to perform shear fatigue tests with assembled electronic packages in order to study creep-fatigue interaction in solder joints.Dwell time, temperature and force have an impact on the number of cycles to failure. Combined increase of temperature and dwell time reduces the number of cycles to failure until a factor of 10. The hysteresis response of the package is converted in stress and plastic and viscous strains in order to calibrate a viscoplastic model and a fatigue law. Results show limitations of classic Coffin-Manson fatigue law. Experimental results from the literature have been used to complete our test plan. A frequency modified fatigue model shows increased prediction accuracy for fatigue tests performed at different frequencies. In fact, time-dependent viscous damage is included in the law by the frequency factor. However, limitations of this law have been found in particular for long dwell time configuration. A creep-fatigue model is proposed to dissociate damages from plastic and viscous strains. This fatigue law increases prediction accuracy in the case of high temperature and long dwell time configuration. Microstructure evolutions indicate the destruction of the dendritic structure and replaced by small grains recrystallization in the area close to the fracture. Coalescence of different precipitates is also observed in the damaged area. More investigations on this topic are required in order to evaluate the specific markers of plastic and viscous damages.