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At least 37 records · Page 2

Interim Creep, Fatigue and Creep-Fatigue Data from FY 2022 INL Testing of A709 with Precipitation Treatment for ASME Code Case Data Package

This report provides the status of creep, fatigue, and creep-fatigue testing that transpired in fiscal year 2022 at Idaho National Laboratory (INL). This testing is being conducted to develop the data package to qualify A709 in Section III, Division 5 of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code (BPVC). This would permit the use of A709 for elevated temperature nuclear construction. Preliminary results continue to demonstrate the improved creep and fatigue resistance of A709 compared to 316H stainless steel.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

Transient creep‐fatigue crack growth in creep‐brittle materials: Application to Alloy 718

Abstract This study presents incremental finite element computations of creep‐fatigue crack growth in Alloy 718 at in air. Alloy 718 is representative of creep‐brittle materials, in which viscoplastic deformation is restricted near the tip of a growing crack. The computations predict crack growth using a unique combination of an irreversible cohesive zone formulation and a strain gradient viscoplastic material model based on the Kocks–Mecking formulation. Cohesive zone damage parameters are estimated using sustained loading and constant‐amplitude cyclic loading experiments. Computations of crack extension under three different waveforms containing overloads all predict post‐overload retardation. The amount of retardation depends strongly on the overload ratio, consistent with experiments in the literature using similar waveforms. Analysis of the crack‐tip fields demonstrates retardation is associated with unloading in the highly deformed material near the advancing crack tip. Dynamic recovery and geometrically necessary dislocations are shown to significantly influence post‐overload crack extension.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Single-Bar SMT Creep-Fatigue Testing on Alloy 617 with Software Controls on elastic Follow-Up Feedback in Support of New Creep-Fatigue Design Methodology

The Simplified Model Test (SMT) is one of the alternative ways to calculate the creep-fatigue damage of elevated temperature components. The SMT approach unifies the creep and fatigue damage, simplifying the damage calculation process with improved accuracy. Traditionally, SMT tests has have been conducted through the two bars: first is the driver bar and second is the test bar. The driver bar stays elastic and imposes the confinement to the second bar. This experimental procedure requires two test frames and a large test specimen, which limits the test parameter range and accessibility of this testing procedures. Hence, a single-bar SMT (SB-SMT) tests has been developed to simplify complexity in SMT experiment setup. The software-controlled SB-SMT test process has been introduced which completely replaces the driver bar. This paper discusses the single-bar SMT (SB-SMT) test procedure with software controls. The challenges and critical parameters in the software-controlled SB-SMT procedure are addresses addressed and recommendations are provided. A scoping test with a set of wider strain range, elastic follow-ups and dwell time validated the proposed test procedure.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

Evaluation of Reduced Order Model for HT-9 Creep and Modifications to Current HT-9 Creep Model in BISON

In order to leverage existing reduced order models (ROM) for the modeling of LANL-developed HT-9 cladding constitutive behavior, mechanistic-based models have been implemented into BISON. It is posited that the increased fidelity of the ROM will show improvement over engineering-scale models in terms of comparison against experimental measurements. INL will assist LANL in implementing an HT9 ROM in BISON. Once the HT-9 mechanistic constitutive model can be leveraged in nuclear performance simulations, the numerical results of fast reactor models will be analyzed and compared against the Fuels Irradiation & Physics Database (FIPD) and separate effects tests to attempt a validation process. INL and LANL will work together to perform any necessary improvement that is identified during the implementation and use processes. Successful completion of the milestone will enable the general use of validated mechanistic ROMs for HT-9 cladding in BISON. This report provides a brief introduction to the Los Alamos Reduced Order Model Applied to Nonlinear Constitutive Equations (LAROMANCE) code, mechanical testing used to illustrate its creep and plastic deformation predictions for HT-9 cladding, and a comparison with existing models implemented into BISON. Current models have been modified to more appropriately account for primary thermal creep and results for corresponding testing are included in this report.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

High-Temperature Creep Behavior of Thin-Walled FeCrAl Alloy Tubes

This report summarizes measured creep properties for FeCrAl alloy C26M measured using subsized specimens machined from prototypic thin-walled tubes. A representative tube fabricated in a previous large batch production effort was machined into dual-gauge axial specimens using electrical-discharge machining. Creep tests, comprising strain-rate jump tests (SRJ), jump stress (JS) and constant-stress (CS) tests, were conducted at temperatures ranging from 600-900ºC to determine creep mechanisms (elucidated from stress exponents) and activation energies to compare with prior data available in the literature at temperatures up to 650ºC. It was found that the results from the SRJ tests indicated that the highest stress exponent of 5.8 occurred at 600ºC, which decreased to the lowest stress exponent of 2.5 at 700ºC. At higher temperatures, the stress exponents increased slightly to a range of 2.9 to 4.3 between 750ºC and 900ºC. The high stress exponent value of 5.8 suggested dislocation glide creep mechanisms dominated creep deformation at 600ºC since high stress values were measured. The low stress exponent of 2.5 at 700ºC suggested diffusional creep mechanisms start to occur that aid in dislocation cross-slip and climb mechanisms. The slightly higher stress exponents of 2.9 to 3.9 may suggest different contributions of creep deformation mechanisms based on diffusional processes associated with Nabarro-Herring and Coble creep and dislocation creep that involve thermally activated cross-slip and climb mechanisms. These deformation mechanisms could have also been affected by the development of recovery and/or recrystallization processes in the microstructure of the C26M2 specimens. From the SJ and single CS tests, two sets of creep activation energies were calculated. The steady state creep values obtained from the SJ tests showed several abnormalities especially with the data at 850ºC. The comparison of the creep activation energies between the data from the SJ and CS tests showed higher creep rates for the SJ tests than the CS tests, indicating microstructure softening occurred in the C26M2 specimens during the SJ tests that led to the higher creep rates at stresses above the initial stress of 10 MPa. For the CS tests, the results showed steady increases in MCR with increasing temperature at each stress. The best linear fit to the MCR values at each stress was with data obtained at 800ºC, 850ºC and 900ºC. The lowest Q c value of 130.8 KJ/mole was observed with the highest stress of 25 MPa. As stress was lowered, the Q c values increased continuously to the highest value of 188.2 KJ/mole at 10 MPa. This trend suggests that the dominant creep mechanism is diffusional based dislocation climb since the decreasing activation energies with increasing stress promotes easier dislocation climb around obstacles. The comparison between the SJ and CS tests indicates that the best type of creep test performed on FeCrAl alloys such as C26M2 is the single CS test.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Effects of anisotropic shale creep on the stress and permeability evolution of a geological nuclear waste repository

To ensure long-term safety and performance, geological nuclear waste repositories require low-permeability barriers such as bentonite buffers and/or shale host rock. Shale is not only known for its low permeability but also for its trend to undergo time-dependent deformation (i.e., creep), which could heal damage, but the effects of shale creep on the long-term performance of nuclear waste repositories have not been clearly understood. In particular, the anisotropic nature of shale (i.e., bedding) could have a significant effect on its creep behavior, and consequently, on the long-term performance of nuclear waste repositories. In this research, numerical simulations were carried out with the objective of showing the effects of anisotropic shale creep on the stress and permeability evolution of a generic geological nuclear waste repository in shale. The TOUGH-FLAC simulator, a thermo-hydromechanically (THM) coupled numerical code, was used for the simulations. To achieve the objective, comparisons were performed between the results of anisotropic shale creep simulations and those of different simulation cases, namely, no creep (i.e., elastic), isotropic creep, and long-term creep shale cases. Results of the comparisons show that the elastic and isotropic creep shale cases respectively led to the overestimation and underestimation of stress and permeability in the repository, whereas the long-term creep shale case, which accumulated greater creep in later periods than in earlier periods, helped to keep large shear and tensile stresses from developing while maintaining compressive spherical stress, resulting in consistently low permeability levels. These results indicate that performance assessments with elastic and isotropic creep formation models will provide the upper and lower bound estimates of stress and permeability, while more reasonable estimates will be given by an anisotropic creep formation model, and that shale with long-term creep characteristics will be beneficial in many aspects of the safety and performance of nuclear waste repositories.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

Microstructure-sensitive modeling of high temperature creep in grade-91 alloy

Predicting the effects of microstructure on high-temperature creep responses of steel components is critical to minimize the risks of failure and maximize economic viability in the energy sector. In this research, a recently developed advanced mechanistic constitutive model is employed to study the effect of microstructure on the creep responses and to rationalize experimentally reported variability in the performances of grade-91 alloy. Hundreds of experimental creep tests from the literature are used to assess the predictability of the model. The model proposed is shown to accurately predict the steady-state creep rates and also the less commonly considered, yet important, primary-to-secondary transients for a wide range of creep conditions. Further, the model is capable of extrapolating the creep response of grade 91 alloy even outside of the calibration regime. Using this model, the roles of initial microstructure described in terms of grain size, dislocation density, and precipitate content, on the creep responses are investigated. The effect of initial microstructure on the steady-state creep rates and creep-strain is found to vary with stress and temperature. Grain size plays a significant role in the low-stress creep, where the diffusional creep is dominant. On the other hand, the effects of dislocation densities and precipitate content are significant in the dislocation-plasticity-dominated high-stress and temperature regimes. Furthermore, by comparing model predictions against a large experimental creep database, it is found that variability in the creep responses can be rationalized on the basis of differences in the initial microstructure. Overall, this work provides a robust pathway for microstructure-aware engineering design, verification, and validation of metallic components for energy applications.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

A study on the creep behavior of alloy 709 using in-situ scanning electron microscopy

In this research, an experimental evaluation of creep properties of Alloy 709 in the temperature range of 750–850 °C was undertaken. Alloy 709 is a novel austenitic stainless steel with 20% Cr and 25% Ni by wt% that was developed for application in structural components of nuclear power plants. Creep rupture tests were conducted in an in-situ heating-loading and Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) unit equipped with Electron Backscatter Diffraction (EBSD) detector and Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS). “Real-time” creep damage mechanisms of Alloy 709 at various stresses and temperatures using a flat, un-notched sample with continuously reducing cross-section is studied so that the failure and maximum creep damage occurred at the center of the sample where the in-situ SEM imaging could be focused. Accelerated creep tests at temperatures and stresses above service conditions were performed by employing multiple blocks of constant loads where the loads were increased once the sample attained constant creep rate, indicating a secondary creep regime. This technique ensures multiple data points can be obtained from the same test, saves the time required for an otherwise long-term creep test and usage of SEM. Further, Coincident Site Lattice (CSL) boundary maps were collected as control maps before testing, and the grain boundaries were observed during the creep test to understand the effect of grain boundary character on the creep damage mechanism. Void growth, grain boundary separation, and sliding were found to be the main creep mechanisms whose rate is dependent on stress and temperature. Failure mechanisms studied on the fracture surface using SEM fractography were correlated to the sample surface observations to create complementary information to better understand the underline creep mechanism of Alloy 709.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Experimental evaluation of localized creep deformation in grade 91 steel weldments

Spatially resolved measurement of localized creep deformation in heterogeneous creep resistant steel weldments is crucial but challenging for lifetime assessments of critical steam components in power plants. Here, experimental approaches were established to quantitatively evaluate commonly observed localized creep deformation in multi-pass Grade 91 steel weldments. An in-situ digital image correlation (DIC) system was utilized with a creep testing frame to monitor and measure both full-field strain and localized strain accumulation across the weldments during long-term creep testing at elevated temperatures. The in situ DIC method measured not only the creep deformation behavior of the weld metal, heat affected zone (HAZ), and base metal, but also creep strain evolution for each sub-region within the HAZ itself, including coarse-grained HAZ, fine-grained HAZ (FGHAZ), and intercritical HAZ (ICHAZ). The DIC results revealed that local creep strain in the ICHAZ reached up to 90% strain before final rupture, whereas nominal creep strain measured by the standard extensometer of the tested cross-weld specimen was below 10%, indicative of Type IV cracking of the Grade 91 weld. Microstructural analyses revealed that the faster creep degradation/deformation in the HAZ was caused mainly by accelerated matrix grain recrystallization/growth and a reduced pinning effect from the segregated and coarsened precipitates in the FGHAZ and ICHAZ. The ultimate creep rupture occurred in the ICHAZ owing to its lowest creep resistance induced by the largest recrystallized grain size, the lowest fraction of coincidence site lattice, and the lowest local strain energies/dislocation densities.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Employing sequential experiments to gain insights on the interaction between creep and fatigue damage in Ni‐base superalloys

Abstract The interaction between creep and fatigue damage in Ni‐base superalloy CMSX‐8 was explored using a sequential workflow that decouples creep and fatigue steps to quantify how accumulated creep damage interacts with subsequent isothermal low‐cycle fatigue (LCF) and vice versa. Two workflows were considered: creep followed by LCF and LCF followed by creep. For the first workflow, the subsequent LCF was evaluated at temperatures of 20°C, 750°C, and 1100°C. It was found that the extent of deleterious interaction of prior creep on LCF depended on increasing subsequent fatigue test temperature. For the LCF followed by creep, fatigue tests were first conducted at 20°C and 1100°C to 60% of life, and then creep was conducted at 800°C, where primary creep is promoted, or 900°C, where primary creep is absent. LCF damage accumulated at 1100°C accelerated creep and decreased ductility, while fatigue damage at room temperature had minimal effect on the creep behavior.

Gorgannejad, Sanam↗