Fracture Toughness Properties of a Modern Ni-Mo-Cr High Temperature Alloy

The Ni-Mo-Cr alloy (HAYNES® 242^™) is an age-hardenable alloy that can be significantly strengthened by a simple aging heat treatment at 650°C (1200°F). Long-term thermal exposures at moderate temperatures increase the strength and decrease the ductility and Charpy V-notch impact toughness. Tensile ductility and Charpy impact toughness have traditionally been used to study the effect of long-term thermal exposure on mechanical properties. However, there has been little or no work reported on the effect of long-term thermal exposures on the fracture toughness of nickel-base alloys. The room temperature fracture toughness (K_Jc) properties have been evaluated for Ni-Mo-Cr plate material in the annealed, annealed and aged, and annealed plus long-term thermal exposed condition. The microstructural and fracture mode characteristics of this alloy were examined as well. The tensile ductility, impact toughness and fracture conditions of the toughness properties were decreased by a long-term thermal exposure at 650°C (1200°F). The fracture toughness test data revealed the crack extension during the K_Jc tests to be stable throughout the test. The mechanical property data suggest a strong relationship between fracture toughness and tensile ductility. The microstructures and fracture surface morphologies for three metallurgical conditions of the Ni-Mo-Cr alloy are presented.