Module 6

Prepared by,
Philip Jacob Perakathu
Assistant Professor – Mechanical Engineering Department
Saintgits College of Engineering, Pathamuttom
 Creep
 Materials are often placed in service at elevated temperatures and
exposed to static mechanical stresses (e.g., turbine rotors in jet
engines and steam generators that experience centrifugal stresses,
and high-pressure steam lines).
 Deformation under such circumstances is termed creep.
 Defined as the time-dependent and permanent deformation of
materials when subjected to a constant load or stress.
 Creep is normally an undesirable phenomenon and is often the
limiting factor in the lifetime of a part.
 For metals it becomes important only for temperatures greater
than about 0.4 Tm (Tm- absolute melting temperature).

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 Creep test equipment
 The test is conducted to determine the continuing change in the
deformation of materials at elevated temperatures when stressed
below the yield point.
 Four variables are measured during the test – stress, strain,
temperature and time.
 The test is carried out at constant temperature by applying a fixed
load or stress and the induced strain in the specimen is noted at
regular intervals of time.
 The strain in the specimen is measured using a strain gauge or an
extensometer.
 The test is repeated with four or five specimens tested under different
loads at each temperature.

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 Creep behavior
 A typical creep test consists of subjecting a specimen to a
constant load or stress while maintaining the temperature
constant.
 Deformation or strain is measured and plotted as a function of
elapsed time.
 Upon application of the load there is an instantaneous
deformation, which is mostly elastic.
 The resulting creep curve consists of three regions, each of
which has its own distinctive strain–time feature.

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 Creep behavior (cont…)
 Primary or transient creep occurs first, typified by a
continuously decreasing creep rate; that is, the slope of the
curve diminishes with time.
 This suggests that the material is experiencing an increase in
creep resistance or strain hardening—deformation becomes
more difficult as the material is strained.

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 Cont…
 Creep behavior (cont…)
 For secondary creep, sometimes termed steady-state creep, the
rate is constant; that is, the plot becomes linear.
 This is often the stage of creep that is of the longest duration.
 The constancy of creep rate is explained on the basis of a
balance between the competing processes of strain hardening
and recovery, recovery being the process whereby a material
becomes softer and retains its ability to experience
deformation.

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 Creep behavior (cont…)
 Finally, for tertiary creep, there is an acceleration of the rate
and ultimate failure.
 This failure is frequently termed rupture and results from
micro-structural and/or metallurgical changes; for example,
grain boundary separation, and the formation of internal cracks,
cavities, and voids.
 Also, for tensile loads, a neck may form at some point within
the deformation region.
 These all lead to a decrease in the effective cross-sectional area
and an increase in strain rate.

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 Cont…
 The most important parameter from a creep test is the slope
of the secondary portion of the creep curve (Δε/Δt); this is
often called the minimum or steady-state creep rate (εs).
 It is the engineering design parameter that is considered for
long-life applications, such as a nuclear power plant
component that is scheduled to operate for several decades,
and when failure or too much strain are not options.

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 On the other hand, for many relatively short-life creep
situations (e.g., turbine blades in military aircraft and rocket
motor nozzles), time to rupture or the rupture lifetime, is
the dominant design consideration.
 For its determination, creep tests must be conducted to the
point of failure; these are termed creep rupture tests.
 Thus, a knowledge of these creep characteristics of a material
allows the design engineer to ascertain its suitability for a
specific application.

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 Stress and temperature effects
 Both temperature and the level of the applied stress influence
the creep characteristics.
 At a temperature substantially below 0.4 Tm and after the initial
deformation, the strain is virtually independent of time.
 With either increasing stress or temperature, the following will
be noted:
 The instantaneous strain at the time of stress application increases
 The steady-state creep rate is increased
 The rupture lifetime is diminished.

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 Cont…
 Stress and temperature effects (cont…)
 Steady-state creep rate can be expressed as a function of stress
and temperature is expressed.
εs = K1.σn
 When the influence of temperature is included
εs = K2.σn.exp( – Qc/RT)

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 Structural changes during creep (Creep mechanism)
 Deformation by slip
 At low temperatures, slip systems will not be operative, because the
dislocations from adjacent loops will repel each other.
 At high temperatures, these dislocations loops can climb and annihilate
each other.
 This annihilation facilitates a steady flow of new dislocations from many
sources.
 Dislocations continue their motion causing creep strain.

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 Structural changes during creep
 Sub-grain formation
 Bending of crystals result in the formation of excess dislocations of the
same sign.
 At high temperatures dislocation climb can occur and these dislocations
rearrange themselves into a low angle boundary.
 Low angle boundaries so developed are called sub-boundaries and crystal
regions they separate are called sub-grains.
 This process is known as sub-grain formation or polygonisation.
 Sub-grains formed are less regular and less well defined, serve as less
effective barriers.

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 Structural changes during creep
 Grain boundary sliding
 When a polycrystalline material is heated, grain boundaries, loose their
strength and acts as a low viscosity liquid separating the neighboring
grains and allowing them to slide against each other.
 This is known as grain boundary sliding.

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 Factors affecting creep
1. Materials having high thermal stability and high melting point
resist creep.
2. A fine grained is prone to grain boundary sliding at high
temperatures, than the coarse grain boundary.
3. Precipitation hardening alloys improves creep resistance. Fine
insoluble precipitates prevent dislocation movement as well as
grain boundary sliding
4. Cold working improves creep resistance
5. Substitutional solid solution improves creep resistance.

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 Fine and coarse grain size

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 Super Plasticity
 In materials science, super plasticity is a state in which solid
crystalline material is deformed well beyond its usual breaking
point, usually over about 200% during tensile deformation. Such a
state is usually achieved at elevated temperature.
 Examples of super plastic materials are some fine-grained metals
and ceramics.
 Super plastically deformed material gets thinner in a very uniform
manner, rather than forming a "neck" (a local narrowing) that
leads to fracture.
 Also, the formation of micro voids, which is another cause of early
fracture, is inhibited.

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 Super plasticity is also defined as a deformation process that
produces essentially neck-free elongations of many hundreds
of percentage in metallic materials in tension.
 For a super plasticity, the material should have:
 Stable ultra fine grain size.
 Temperature of deformation greater than or equal to 0.4 Tm
(Tm- absolute melting temperature)
 Grains are equiaxed (crystals that have axes of approximately
the same length)
 A low and controlled strain rate.

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 In addition…
 Presence of a second phase (of similar strength to the matrix-
reduces cavitations during deformation), which can inhibit grain
growth at elevated temperatures helps (e.g. Al-33%Cu, Zn-22%
Al)).
 Many super plastic alloys have compositions are close to
eutectic or eutectoid points.
 Super plasticity flow is diffusion controlled (can be grain
boundary or lattice diffusion controlled).

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 Cont…
 Used in metal forming process like thermoforming etc for
the production of large complex shaped products.

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