Motoyuki Ochi

Elucidation of the High Cycle Fatigue Damage Mechanism of Modified 9Cr-1Mo Steel at Elevated Temperature

Modified 9Cr-1Mo steel is one of the heat-resistant steels developed for steam generator in a FBR (Fast Breeder Reactor). When it is used in a FBR, the lifetime of the steel under HCF (High Cycle Fatigue) and V-HCF (Very-High Cycle Fatigue) caused by flow-induced vibration has to be considered for assuring its long-term reliability up to 1011 cycles. Since previous studies showed that the fatigue limit did not appear up to 108 cycles, it is necessary to investigate the fatigue strength of this alloy in cycles higher than 108 cycles. In this study, in order to clarify high cycle fatigue strength and fracture mechanism of the modified 9Cr-1Mo steel, the change of the lath martensitic strengthening structure was observed in detail on the surface of specimens fractured by rotary bending fatigue tests by using EBSD (Electron Back-Scatter Diffraction) method. The Kernel Average Misorientation (KAM) value obtained from the EBSD analysis was used for the quantitative evaluation of the change of the lath martensitic texture. It was found that the average KAM values clearly decreased on the surface areas of the fractured specimens after the application of 107-108 cycles of fatigue loading at temperatures higher than 550°C. This result indicates that degradation of the lath martensitic texture occurred around the surface of specimens tested at the temperature higher than 550°C. In order to quantitatively evaluate the decrease of its strength, a hardness test was performed at room temperature by using a nanoindentation method. It was confirmed that the surface hardness of specimens decreased drastically in the specimens fractured at temperatures higher than 550°C. From these results, it was concluded that the effective 0.2%-proof stress decreased during the fatigue tests by the degradation of the lath martensitic texture caused by the fatigue loading at elevated temperatures. Further analyses are indispensable for explicating the damage mechanism more in detail.Copyright

High Cycle Fatigue Strength of Modified 9Cr-1Mo Steel at Elevated Temperatures

In order to clarify the characteristics of high-cycle fatigue of the modified 9Cr-1Mo steel, a high temperature rotary bending test was carried out. As a result, the fatigue strength of this alloy decreased monotonically at elevated temperatures. It decreased from 440 MPa at room temperature to about 350 MPa at 400°C. This decrease of the fatigue strength was attributed to the temperature dependence of the yielding strength of this alloy. The fatigue limit appeared near 107 cycles at 400°C, whereas it appeared around 106 cycles at room temperature. The most important result is that the fatigue limit disappeared up to 108 cycles at temperatures higher than 500°C. Thus, the number of cycles at which the fatigue limit appeared shifted to higher cycles with increasing the testing temperature. Clear striation was observed in the stable crack growth region on the fracture surface of all the specimen tested at room temperature, 400°C, 500°C, 550°C, and 600°C. Intergranular cracking, which have been observed in creep-fatigue tests, was not observed. Since the estimated operating temperature of FBR is 550°C, it is very important to consider this fatigue strength in the structural and reliability design of the modified 9Cr-1Mo steel.In this study, the change of crystallinity of this alloy under fatigue loading was also analyzed by applying an EBSD method. The image quality (IQ) value obtained from the analysis was used for the quantitative evaluation of the crystallinity in the area where an electron beam of 20 nm in diameter was irradiated. The quality of the atomic alignment was found to degrade under the cyclic loading, and a crack started to occur on the surface of the alloy when the quality of the atomic alignment decreased to a certain critical value.Copyright

Nanotexture Change Caused by Strain-Induced Anisotropic Diffusion During Creep of Ni-Base Superalloy

In order to make clear the mechanism of the directional coarsening (rafting) of γ′ phases in Ni-base superalloys under uni-axial tensile strain, molecular dynamics (MD) analysis was applied to investigate dominant factors of strain-induced anisotropic diffusion of Al atoms and nanotexture change of fine dispersed γ′ precipitates. In this study, a simple interface structure model corresponding to the γ/γ′ interface, which consisted of Ni as γ and Ni3Al as γ′ structure, was used to analyze the effect of alloying element on diffusion properties. The diffusion constants of Al atoms were changed drastically by the dopant elements and their contents. When the lattice constant of the γ phase was increased and its melting point was decreased by the addition of Cr or Al atoms, the strain-induced anisotropic diffusion of Al atoms in the γ′ phase was accelerated. On the other hand, the addition of Co decreased the diffusion significantly. Therefore, changes of lattice constant and melting point depending on the chemical composition of the γ/γ′ interface are the dominant factors controlling the strain-induced anisotropic diffusion of Al atoms in the Ni-base superalloy.Copyright