12.

Creep of materials

APSC278 by Warren Poole and Anoush Poursartip

 Question

“Why are bolts generally not made out of

plastic?

2
 Learning objectives
• List the three regimes of creep
• Describe the effect of temperature and
stress on creep
• Determine the creep rupture life using the
Larson-Miller parameter
• Determine the approximate temperature at
which we would expect creep in different
materials

3
Creep of Lead Pipes

APSC278 by Warren Poole and Anoush Poursartip

 Creep
• Creep is defined as time dependent in-elastic
(permanent) deformation at high homologous
temperatures
• Three regimes
– Primary creep
– Secondary (steady-state) creep
– Tertiary creep (failure)
• Secondary creep (Stage II) is the most important
stage from the standpoint of design, as it is the
longest

APSC278 by Warren Poole and Anoush Poursartip

 Deformation at Elevated
Temperatures
There are now three components of strain
that we need to consider:

𝜀 𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 = 𝜀 𝐸 +𝜀 𝑃 +𝜀 𝐶

where 𝜀 𝐸 is the instantaneous elastic strain, 𝜀 𝑃 , is

the instantaneous plastic strain (if loaded above the
yield pt) and 𝜀 𝐶 , is time-dependent creep strain.

APSC278 by Warren Poole and Anoush Poursartip

 Typical Creep Test

𝜀𝐸 +𝜀𝑃

time
F Note: yield point becomes sensitive to strain-rate and sYS
and sUTS approach one another
APSC278 by Warren Poole and Anoush Poursartip
Creep Curves

90% of life spent in

Stage II

APSC278 by Warren Poole and Anoush Poursartip

Effect of Stress and Temperature

APSC278 by Warren Poole and Anoush Poursartip

 Effect of Stress on Secondary
(Stage II) creep
de
 e s  K1s n
dt
• Steady state creep data often follows the above power
law, hence “power law creep”. Note: es refers to the
accumulation of creep strain in the secondary (stage II)
regime.
• n – creep exponent
• K1 – constant
 s is the stress (can be tensile or compressive)

APSC278 by Warren Poole and Anoush Poursartip

 Effect of Temperature on Stage II creep
de
 e s  K1s n
dt
Thus if we plot
log(s) vs creep rate, nickel alloy
the slope is 1/n, and
the effect of
temperature shows
up in the constant
K1
  Qc 
K1  K 2 exp 
 RT 
  Qc 
e s  K 2s exp
 n

 RT 

APSC278 by Warren Poole and Anoush Poursartip

 Effect of Time and Temperature
Thermally activated process
  Qc  Energy
es  K 2s n exp 
 RT  Qc =activation energy

Qc = activation energy for

creep

Position 1 Position 2

ln(e s )

- Qc /R
Plot of ln(e s ) vs T-1 gives slope = - Qc / R

1/T
High T Low T
APSC278 by Warren Poole and Anoush Poursartip
 General Steady State Creep Relationship
• As stress or T increase, the time to failure decreases
• Concept of “rupture life” 50 MPa … ~40 days
– Plot log(s) vs log(rupture life)

20 MPa … ~11 years

Design s, T

Example:
Design life
Boiler tubes

APSC278 by Warren Poole and Anoush Poursartip

 Creep Data Extrapolation

• Often need data for timescales impractical in lab experiments – e.g. of the
order of years
• One option is to perform tests at comparable stress, but higher temperatures
(thus shorter times) and extrapolate
• A common procedure is the Larson-Miller parameter

𝑚 = 𝑇(𝐶 + log(𝑡𝑟 ))
• C is a constant, often ~ 20, T is the operating temperature of the component
in K, tr is the estimated time to rupture in hours
• In general, the rupture lifetime of a material at some specific stress level will
vary with T such that this m parameter stays constant

APSC278 by Warren Poole and Anoush Poursartip

Creep Data Extrapolation – example calc.
What is rupture lifetime at 140 MPa at 800 ℃?

24.0  103  T ( 20  log t r )

 1073( 20  log t r )
22.37  20  log t r

tr = 233 hrs (9.7 days)

140 MPa
What about 700℃?

tr = 5.3 years

24000
S590 is a tool steel with a sys of ~600
MPa.

Creep data for S590 Alloy

APSC278 by Warren Poole and Anoush Poursartip

 General Design Guidelines for Design (greatly
simplified) for Constant or Static Load
For T(K) < 0.4Tmelting(K) – Design for yield stress and potentially
also for ductility (strain-to-failure) and ultimate tensile stress as
they impact on damage tolerance and energy absorption on
impact.
s s  e
e
n
Elastic design K T
Plastic design
E

For T(K)> 0.4Tmelting(K) – Design for creep life and potentially also
for yield stress and ductility (strain-to-failure) as they impact on
damage tolerance and energy absorption on impact. Note: no or
limited work hardening for T (K)> 0.4Tmelting(K). Yield behaviour
becomes increasingly sensitive to strain rate.
  Qc 
𝑚 = 𝑇(𝐶 + log(𝑡𝑟 )) es  K 2s exp 
n
Creep design
 RT 
APSC278 by Warren Poole and Anoush Poursartip
 Comparison of Low and High Temperature
Properties
• Grain boundaries play an important role in high
temperature deformation
– To obtain the best creep resistance, we need to reduce
the number of grain boundaries - i.e. increase grain
size
– The ultimate is to have a single crystal
• High performance turbine blades are made from
single crystal Ni superalloys ($5000/blade)

APSC278 by Warren Poole and Anoush Poursartip

Rolls Royce Trent 900
Royce Trent 900
Rolls Royce Trent 900 Turbofan

2.95 m diameter
By-pass ratio  9:1
APSC278 by Warren Poole and Anoush Poursartip
 Design Considerations
– Fuel efficiency
– Noise
– Weight
– Cost

APSC278 by Warren Poole and Anoush Poursartip

 Materials – Enabling Technology
High temperatures
blades

Low temperatures
Max. gas stream temperature >1550 oC
blades
Melting point of Ni  1450 oC
APSC278 by Warren Poole and Anoush Poursartip
 Increasing Operating temperature of turbine blades

[100] No grain
boundaries

~100 – 150 mm

Grain size ~1-2 mm Directionally solidified

APSC278 by Warren Poole and Anoush Poursartip

 Turbine Blade Cooling

Cooling air
Single pass Multi-pass Thermal Barrier
Coating
APSC278 by Warren Poole and Anoush Poursartip
APSC278 by Warren Poole and Anoush Poursartip
APSC278 by Warren Poole and Anoush Poursartip
 Summary of the Effect of Temperature
• Pure Metals (T < 0.4 TMP), alloys (T < 0.6 TMP), cold
working conditions prevail.
• In conversion operations under cold working
conditions – e.g. rolling, forging and drawing
• The yield stress increases with increase plastic deformation –
referred to as work hardening.
• The ductility decreases as the amount of work hardening
increases.
• The grains become deformed (elongated normal to the
deformation)
• Approximately 5% of the work of deformation is stored as
strain energy, the balance is converted to heat.

APSC278 by Warren Poole and Anoush Poursartip

Summary of the Effect of Temperature
• The application of thermal energy (heat treatment) in
combination with the stored strain energy can initiate
recrystallization.
• The material undergoes three changes in sequence
1. Recovery – loss of residual stress
2. Recrystalization – nucleation and growth of new strain-free
equiaxed grains resulting in recovery of the original un-
deformed material properties .
3. Grain growth – increase in average grain size with
increasing time at temperature, slight decrease in yield
strength – see Hall-Petch Equation

APSC278 by Warren Poole and Anoush Poursartip

 Summary of the Effect of Temperature
• Pure Metals (T > 0.4 TMP), alloys (T > 0.6 TMP), hot
working conditions prevail.
• In conversion operations under cold working
conditions – e.g. rolling, forging and drawing
• The yield stress begins decreasing with increasing
temperature reducing the load and energy required to
perform large deformations.
• Dynamic recrystallization occurs in which the deformed grains
are replaced by new, strain-free grains thus avoiding the work
hardening experienced in cold working.
• Grain Growth can occur

APSC278 by Warren Poole and Anoush Poursartip

 Summary of the Effect of Temperature

• Loading at (T > 0.4 TMP) can result in the

accumulation of creep strain, which is time
dependent and results in permanent
deformation.
• Creep strain exhibits three regimes of
behaviour:
1. Primary (short initial regime)
2. Secondary (longest by far, follows power law relationship)
3. Tertiary (short in duration, leads to creep rupture)

APSC278 by Warren Poole and Anoush Poursartip

 Summary of the Effect of Temperature
• We have developed sophisticated materials
and techniques allowing materials to be
operated for extended times at temperatures
exceeding 0.7 TH.
Tmpt Ni = 1445℃;

TH-ReneN6 = 0.85

APSC278 by Warren Poole and Anoush Poursartip

 Summary of the Effect of Temperature

• These capabilities has been achieved through

a combination of:

• Alloy chemistry optimization

• Alloy microstructure optimization
• Casting technology development – e.g. single crystal Bridgman
furnace for investment casting.
• Utilization of internal cooling – again advances in casting
technology
• Advanced thermal barrier coatings – use of a combination of
materials.

APSC278 by Warren Poole and Anoush Poursartip

 Question

“Why are bolts generally not made out of

plastic?

32
 Learning objectives
• List the three regimes of creep
• Describe the effect of temperature and
stress on creep
• Determine the creep rupture life using the
Larson-Miller parameter
• Determine the approximate temperature at
which we would expect creep in different
materials

33
 Problem 8.42

8.42 Steady-state creep rate data are given in the following table for some alloy taken at 200°C (473 K):

e s (h–1) s [MPa (psi)]

2.5 × 10–3 55 (8000)
2.4 × 10–2 69 (10,000)

If it is known that the activation energy for creep is 140,000 J/mol, compute the steady-state creep rate at a
temperature of 250°C (523 K) and a stress level of 48 MPa (7000 psi).

APSC278 by Warren Poole and Anoush Poursartip