Temperature and Orientation Dependence of Creep Damage of Two Ni-Base Superalloys

Both polycrystalline (PC) and directionally-solidified (DS) Ni-base superalloys are commonly applied as turbine materials to primarily withstand creep conditions manifested in either marine-, air- or land-based gas turbines components. The thrust for increased efficiency of these systems, however, translates into the need for these materials to exhibit considerable strength and temperature resistance. This is critical for engine parts that are subjected to high temperature and stress conditions sustained for long periods of time, such as blades, vanes, and combustion pieces. Accurate estimates of stress and deformation histories at notches, curves, and other critical locations of such components are crucial for life prediction and calculation of service intervals. In the current study, the classical Kachanov-Rabotnov model for tertiary creep damage is implemented in a general-purpose finite element analysis (FEA) software. Creep deformation and rupture experiments on samples from two representative Ni-base superalloys (PC and DS) tested at temperatures between 649 and 982°C and two orientations (longitudinally- and transversely-oriented for the DS case only) are applied to extend this damage formulation. The damage model coefficients corresponding to secondary and tertiary creep constants are characterized for temperature and orientation dependence. This updated formulation can be implemented for modeling full-scale parts containing temperature distributions.