Influence of temperature, stress, and grain size on behavior of nano-polycrystalline niobium

Atomic simulations are executed to investigate the creep responses of nano-polycrystalline(NC) niobium established by using the Voronoi algorithm. The effects of varying temperature, applied stress, and grain size(GS) on creep properties and mechanisms are investigated. Notably, the occurrence of tertiary creep is exclusively observed under conditions where the applied stress exceeds 4.5 GPa and the temperature is higher than 1100 K. This phenomenon can be attributed to the significant acceleration of grain boundary and lattice diffusion, driven by the elevated temperature and stress levels. It is found that the strain rate increases with both temperature and stress increasing. However, an interesting trend is observed in which the strain rate decreases as the grain size increases. The stress and temperature are crucial parameters governing the creep behavior. As these factors intensify, the creep mechanism undergoes a sequential transformation: initially from lattice diffusion under low stress and temperature conditions to a mixed mode combining grain boundaries(GBs) and lattice diffusion at moderate stress and mid temperature levels, and ultimately leading to the failure of power-law controlled creep behavior, inclusive of grain boundary recrystallization under high stress and temperature conditions. This comprehensive analysis provides in more detail an understanding of the intricate creep behavior of nano-polycrystalline niobium and its dependence on various physical parameters.

Effects of stabilizing heat treatment on microstructures and creep behavior of Zn-10Al-2Cu-0.02Ti alloy

The microstructures of as-extruded and stabilizing heat-treated Zn-10Al-2Cu-0.02Ti alloys were observed by scanning electron microscopy,transmission electron microscopy,electron probe microanalysis and X-ray diffraction analysis techniques.The change in structure after heat treatment and its effects on room temperature creep behavior were investigated by creep experiments at constant stress and slow strain rate tensile tests.The results show that after stabilizing heat treatment（（350℃,30 min,water-cooling）＋（100℃,12 h,air-cooling））,the amount of α＋η lamellar structure decreases,while the amount of cellular and granular structure increases.The heat-treated Zn-10Al-2Cu-0.02Ti alloy exhibits better creep resistance than the as-extruded alloy,and the rate of steady state creep decreases by 96.9% after stabilizing heat treatment.

Analytical model for predicting time-dependent lateral deformation of geosynthetics-reinforced soil walls with modular block facing

To date,few models are available in the literature to consider the creep behavior of geosynthetics when predicting the lateral deformation(d)of geosynthetics-reinforced soil(GRS)retaining walls.In this study,a general hyperbolic creep model was first introduced to describe the long-term deformation of geosynthetics,which is a function of elapsed time and two empirical parameters a and b.The conventional creep tests with three different tensile loads(Pr)were conducted on two uniaxial geogrids to determine their creep behavior,as well as the a-Pr and b-Pr relationships.The test results show that increasing Pr accelerates the development of creep deformation for both geogrids.Meanwhile,a and b respectively show exponential and negatively linear relationships with Pr,which were confirmed by abundant experimental data available in other studies.Based on the above creep model and relationships,an accurate and reliable analytical model was then proposed for predicting the time-dependent d of GRS walls with modular block facing,which was further validated using a relevant numerical investigation from the previous literature.Performance evaluation and comparison of the proposed model with six available prediction models were performed.Then a parametric study was carried out to evaluate the effects of wall height,vertical spacing of geogrids,unit weight and internal friction angle of backfills,and factor of safety against pullout on d at the end of construction and 5 years afterwards.The findings show that the creep effect not only promotes d but also raises the elevation of the maximum d along the wall height.Finally,the limitations and application prospects of the proposed model were discussed and analyzed.

High temperature mechanical behavior of alumina dispersion strengthened copper alloy with high content of alumina

The microstructure and its effects on the high temperature mechanical behavior of Cu-2.7%Al_2O_3 （volume fraction） dispersion strengthened copper （ADSC） alloy were investigated. The results indicate that fine alumina particles are uniformly distributed in the copper matrix, while a few coarse ones are distributed on the grain boundaries. Tensile tests results show that Hall-Petch mechanism is the main contribution to the yield strength of ADSC alloy at room temperature. Its high temperature strength is attributed to the strong pinning effects of alumina particles on the grain and sub-grain boundaries with dislocations. The ultimate tensile strength can reach 237 MPa and the corresponding yield strength reaches 226 MPa at 700℃. Tensile fracture morphology indicates that the ADSC alloy shows brittleness at elevated temperatures. Creep tests results demonstrate that the steady state creep rates at 400 ℃ are lower than those at 700 ℃. The stress exponents at 400 ℃ and 700℃ are 7 and 5, respectively, and the creep strain rates of the ADSC alloy are controlled by dislocation core diffusion and lattice diffusion.

Creep behavior of SnAgCu solders with rare earth Ce doping

Extensive testing was carried out to study the effects of rare earth Ce doping on the properties of SnAgCu solder alloys.The addition of 0.03%(mass fraction) rare earth Ce into SnAgCu solder may improve its mechanical properties,but slightly lower its melting temperature.The tensile creep behavior of bulk SnAgCuCe solders was reported and compared with SnAgCu solders.It is found that SnAgCuCe solders show higher creep resistance than SnAgCu alloys.Moreover,Dorn model and Garofalo model are successfully used to describe the creep behavior of SnAgCu and SnAgCuCe alloys.The parameters of the two creep constitutive equations for SnAgCu and SnAgCuCe solders are determined from separated constitutive relations and experimental results.Nonlinear least-squares fitting is selected to determine the model constants.The experimental data of the stress-creep strain rate curves are in good agreement with the theoretical ones.

Experimental investigation of creep behavior of clastic rock in Xiangjiaba Hydropower Project

There are many fracture zones crossing the dam foundation of the Xiangjiaba Hydropower Project in southwestern China. Clastic rock is the main media of the fracture zone and has poor physical and mechanical properties. In order to investigate the creep behavior of clastic rock, triaxial creep tests were conducted using a rock servo-controlling rheological testing machine. The results show that the creep behavior of clastic rock is significant at a high level of deviatoric stress, and less time-dependent deformation occurs at high confining pressure. Based on the creep test results, the relationship between axial strain and time under different confining pressures was investigated, and the relationship between axial strain rate and deviatoric stress was also discussed. The strain rate increases rapidly, and the rock sample fails eventually under high deviatoric stress. Moreover, the creep failure mechanism under different confining pressures was analyzed. The main failure mechanism of clastic rock is plastic shear, accompanied by a significant compression and ductile dilatancy. On the other band, with the determined parameters, the Burgers creep model was used to fit the creep curves. The results indicate that the Burgers model can exactly describe the creep behavior of clastic rock in the Xiangjiaba Hydropower Project.

Creep aging behavior of retrogression and re-aged 7150 aluminum alloy

Creep aging behavior of retrogression and re-aged(RRAed)7150 aluminum alloy(AA7150)was systematically investigated using the creep aging experiments,mechanical properties tests,electrical conductivity tests and transmission electron microscope(TEM)observations.Creep aging results show that the steady-state creep mechanism of RRAed alloys is mainly dislocation climb(stress exponent≈5.8),which is insensitive to the grain interior and boundary precipitates.However,the total creep deformation increases over the re-aging time.In addition,the yield strength and tensile strength of the four RRAed samples are essentially the same after creep aging at 140℃ for 16 h,but the elongation decreases slightly with the re-aging time.What’s more,the retrogression and re-aging treatment are beneficial to increase the hardness and electrical conductivity of the creep-aged 7150 aluminum alloy.It can be concluded that the retrogression and re-aging treatment before creep aging forming process can improve the microstructure within grain and at grain boundary,forming efficiency and comprehensive performance of mechanical properties and electrical conductivity of 7150 aluminum alloy.

Creep behavior and mechanical properties of Al-Li-S4 alloy at different aging temperatures

Creep age forming techniques have been widely used in aerospace industries. In this study, we investigated the effect of aging temperature(143 °C-163 °C) on the creep behavior of Al-Li-S4 aluminum alloy and their mechanical properties at room temperature. The mechanical properties were tested by tensile testing, and the microstructural evolution at different aging temperatures was examined by transmission electron microscopy. Results show that the creep strains and the room-temperature mechanical properties after creep aging increase with the aging temperature. As the aging temperature increases, the creep strain increases from 0.018% at 143 °C to 0.058% at 153 °C, and then to 0.094% at 163 °C. Within 25 h aging, the number of creep steps increases and the duration time of the same steps is shortened with the growth of aging temperatures. Therefore, the increase in aging temperatures accelerates the progress of the entire creep. Two main strengthening precipitates θ′(Al2 Cu) and T1(Al2 Cu Li) phases were characterized. This work indicates that the creep strain and mechanical properties of Al-Li-S4 alloys can be improved by controlling aging temperatures.

Microstructural evolution and creep deformation behavior of novel Ti-22Al-25Nb-1Mo-1V-1Zr-0.2Si(at.%) orthorhombic alloy

The microstructural evolution and creep deformation behavior which were adjusted and controlled by age treatment of a novel Ti-22Al-25Nb-1Mo-1V-1Zr-0.2Si(mole fraction,%)alloy,were investigated.The microstructures were obtained at different heat treatment temperatures and analyzed by SEM and TEM techniques.The creep behavior of the alloy was studied at 650℃,150 MPa for 100 h in air.The results showed that the initial microstructure mainly contained lath-likeα2,B2,and O phases.The precipitated O phase was sensitive to aging temperature.With the aging temperature increasing,the thickness of the precipitated O phase was also increased,and the length was shortened.The creep resistance of this alloy was relevant to the morphology and volume faction of the lamellar O phase.The increase of lamellar O phase in thickness was the main reason for the improved creep properties.

Creep aging behavior and performance of Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloys under different parameters in retrogression aging treatment

A study was conducted to better understand how different parameters, namely, regression aging time and regression aging temperature, affect the creep aging properties, i.e., the creep deformation and performance of Al-Zn-MgCu alloy during regressive reaging. The corresponding creep strain and mechanical properties of samples were studied by conducting creep tests and uniaxial tensile tests. The electrical conductivity was measured using an eddy-current conductivity meter. The microstructures were observed by transmission electron microscopy(TEM). With the increase in regression aging time, the steady creep strain first increased and then decreased, and reached the maximum at 45 min.The steady creep strain increased with the increase in regression aging temperature, and reached the maximum at 200 ℃.The level of steady creep strain was determined by precipitation and dislocation recovery. Creep aging strengthens 7B50-RRA treated with regression aging time at 190 ℃ for 10 min, and the difference in the mechanical properties of alloy becomes smaller. The diffusion of solute atoms reduces the scattering of electrons, leading to a significant improvement in electrical conductivity and stress corrosion cracking(SCC) resistance after creep aging. The findings of this study could help in the application of creep aging forming(CAF) technology in Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloy under RRA treatment.

Experimental Study on the Creep Behavior of Recombinant Bamboo

The creep behavior of bamboo due to the complicated influences of environment and stress will lead to a sustained increase in deformation,which serious effects the service performance of structures.To investigate the creep behavior of recombinant bamboo,twenty-four recombinant bamboo specimens were tested under lasting compressive and tensile loads at different load levels.The typical failure modes of recombinant bamboo under a lasting load at a high load level were buckling failure and brittle fracturing due to creep compressive creep and tensile creep development,respectively.At a high load level,the creep deformation of recombinant bamboo initially develops unsteadily and increases rapidly until failure;at a low load level,creep deformation rapidly develops in the early stage and stabilizes in the middle and late stages.The load level has notable effects on the overall creep deformation and the proportion of creep deformation.The residual deformation of creep will generally increase and the recovery of creep will decrease with increasing load level.Based on the Burgers model,predictive models that can take the load levels into account were proposed to evaluate the compressive and tensile creep behaviors of recombinant bamboo.The proposed models can be used to accurately evaluate the strain-time behavior of recombinant bamboo.

Experimental research on creep behaviors of sandstone under uniaxial compressive and tensile stresses

The consideration of time dependence is essential for the study of deformation and fracturing processes of rock materials, especially for those subjected to strong compressive and tensile stresses. In this paper, the self-developed direct tension device and creep testing machine RLW-2000M are used to conduct the creep tests on red sandstone under uniaxial compressive and tensile stresses. The short-term and long-term creep behaviors of rocks under compressive and tensile stresses are investigated, as well as the long-term strength of rocks. It is shown that, under low-stress levels, the creep curve of sandstone consists of decay and steady creep stages; while under high-stress levels, it presents the accelerated creep stage and creep fracture presents characteristics of brittle materials. The relationship between tensile stress and time under uniaxial tension is also put forward. Finally, a nonlinear viscoelastoplastic creep model is used to describe the creep behaviors of rocks under uniaxial compressive and tensile stresses.

Behavior of HSLA A709 Steel under Different Environmental Conditions

According to the requirement of the knowledge of material mechanical properties in structure design procedure,the paper considered experimentally obtained data regarding the high-strength low-alloy A 709 Gr50 steel.In that way,ultimate tensile strength and 0.2 offset yield strength at both lowered and elevated temperatures were presented and analyzed.The effect of temperature exerted on both of the mentioned strengths was presented.Creep responses for selected temperatures and selected stress levels were also considered.All of the tests are related to the uniaxial tensile tests and were performed in the laboratory of the Department for Engineering Mechanics at the Faculty of Engineering Rijeka.

Role of P,S and B on Creep Behavior of Alloy 718

The doping of phosphorus, sulfur and boron in IN718 superalloy can remarkably influence the creep behavior. The modifications of the minor elements seem not to vary the stress exponent and the influences primarily concentrate on the effective diffusion coefficient. A pronounced beneficial interaction between P and B and a weaker detrimental interaction between P and S have been obtained. The preexponential frequency constant is proved to be strongly related with the creep activation energy because of the so-called compensation effect. The compensation temperature has been determined to be about 1080 K, which corresponds to the transformation temperature from rapidly coarsened γ'' phase to δ phase. It has been proposed that trace elements can influence the effective diffusion coefficient individually or cooperatively, which in turn either retard or speed the creep process.

Effects of cold rolling deformation on microstructure,hardness,and creep behavior of high nitrogen austenitic stainless steel

Effects of cold rolling deformation on the microstructure, hardness, and creep behavior of high nitrogen austenitic stainless steel （HNASS） are investigated. Microstructure characterization shows that 70% cold rolling deformation results in significant refinement of the microstructure of this steel, with its average twin thickness reducing from 6.4 μm to 14 nm. Nanoindentation tests at different strain rates demonstrate that the hardness of the steel with nano-scale twins （nt-HNASS） is about 2 times as high as that of steel with micro-scale twins （mt-HNASS）. The hardness of nt-HNASS exhibits a pronounced strain rate dependence with a strain rate sensitivity （m value） of 0.0319, which is far higher than that of mt-HNASS （m = 0.0029）. nt-HNASS shows more significant load plateaus and a higher creep rate than mt-HNASS. Analysis reveals that higher hardness and larger m value of nt-HNASS arise from stronger strain hardening role, which is caused by the higher storage rate of dislocations and the interactions between dislocations and high density twins. The more significant load plateaus and higher creep rates of nt-HNASS are due to the rapid relaxation of the dislocation structures generated during loading.

CREEP BEHAVIOR OF γ-TiAl POLYSYNTHETICALLY TWINNED CRYSTALS

Creep behavior of γ-TiAl polysynthetically twinned (PST) crystals has been investigated at temperature between 700 and 800℃. The results show that the creep behavior of the crystals is strongly dependent on the angle between the lamellar boundaries and loading axis. The samples with the angle φ=45 deg. have the lowest creep resistance, while the samples with φ=0 deg., rather than φ=90 deg.,show the strongest creep resistance. The stress exponent and creep activation energy for the power law creep vary with the orientations of samples, which indicates that the creep mechanisms of the samples with different angle φ are quite different.The deformation substructure has been examined by transmission electron microscopy (TEM),which shows that both gliding, perhaps also climbing, of dislocations and twinning contribute to the creep deformation with some particular observation in the samples with φ=90 deg. in which rotation of the γ plates across a true twin boundary was observed, which indicates the deformation mechanism of the samples is different from the samples in other orientations.

Effect of the precipitation state on high temperature tensile and creep behaviors of Mg-15Gd alloy

Due to the effective precipitation strengthening effect of the β phase, Mg-Gd alloys exhibit excellent room temperature mechanical behaviors. However, when served at high temperatures, the metastable β phase will transform to other phases, resulting in severe performance degradation. In this study, we investigated the effect of precipitation state achieved by different heat treatments on high temperature tensile and creep behaviors of the Mg-15Gd alloy by comparing the properties of the as-cast, solid-solutioned(T4) and peak-aged(T6) alloys. The results showed that the tensile mechanical properties of the T6 alloy were always highest from room temperature to 300 ℃, in spite of an abnormal strength increase with temperature existed in the T4 alloy. For tensile creep properties, the T6 alloy exhibited the lowest steady creep rate below 235 ℃ while the T4 alloy possessed the best properties above 260 ℃. Microstructure characterization revealed that the transition was caused by the stress-promoted precipitation of β phase in the T4 alloy and rapid phase transformation in the T6 alloy at high temperatures. At 260 ℃, the calculated stress exponent n was 3.1 and 2.8 for the T4 and T6 alloys, respectively, suggesting the creep deformation mechanism was dislocation slip, which was further confirmed by the microstructure after creeping. Our findings can provide new insights into the heat treatment process of Mg-Gd alloys served at high temperatures.

Investigation on creep behavior of warm frozen silty sand under thermo-mechanical coupling loads

In cold regions,the creep characteristics of warm frozen silty sand have significant effect on the stability of slope and subgrade.To investigate the creep behavior of warm frozen silty sand under thermo-mechanical coupling loads,a series of triaxial creep tests were carried out under different temperatures and stresses.The test results reveal that the creep strains decrease as the consolidation stress increases,and finally tend to be equal under the same loading stress,regardless of whether the stress is isotropic or deviatoric.Additionally,warm frozen silty sand is highly sensitive to temperature,which greatly influences the creep strain both in the consolidation stage and loading stage.Furthermore,based on the creep test phenomena,a new creep model that considers the influence of the stress level,temperature,hardening,and damage effect was established and experimentally validated.Finally,the sensitivity of the model parameters was analyzed,and it was found that the creep curve transitions from the attenuation creep stage to the non-attenuation creep stage as the temperature coefficient and stress coefficient increases.The hardening effect gradually changes to the damage effect as the coupling coefficient of the hardening and damage increases.

Nanoindentation Characterization of Creep-fatigue Interaction on Local Creep Behavior of P92 Steel Welded Joint

In modern fossil and nuclear power plants,the components are subjected to creep,fatigue,and creep-fatigue(CF)due to frequent start-up and shut-down operations at high temperatures.The CF interaction on the in-service P92 steel welded joint was investigated by strain-controlled CF tests with different dwell times of 30,120,300,600 and 900 s at 650℃.Based on the observations of the fracture surface by scanning electron microscope(SEM),the character-istic microstructure of fatigue-induced damage was found for the CF specimens with short dwell times(30 and 120 s).The hardness,elastic modulus and creep deformation near the fracture edges of four typical CF specimens with 30,120,600 and 900 s dwell times were measured by nanoindentation.Compared to specimens with post-weld heat treatment(PWHT),lower hardness and creep strength were found for all CF specimens.In addition,significant reduc-tions in hardness,elastic modulus,and creep strength were measured near the fracture edges for the CF specimens with short dwell times compared to the PWHT specimens.Compared to PWHT specimens(0.007),the increased strain rate sensitivities(SRS)of 0.010 to 0.17 were estimated from secondary creep.The increased values of SRS indicate that the room temperature creeps behavior is strongly affected by the decrease in dislocation density after the CF tests.

Unsaturated Creep Behaviors of Weak Intercalated Soils in Soft Rock of Badong Formation

The cutting slopes in soft rock of redbed appeared in Yichang-Badong highway often suffer from the instability along weak intercalations, so the creep behaviors of weak intercalated soils are crucially important for the stability of cutting slopes. Because the deformation of weak intercalated soils is significantly affected by water content due to the strong water sensitivity, it is necessary to study the influence of matric suction on the creep behaviors of weak intercalated soils. In order to find out the unsaturated creep characters of weak intercalated soils, a GDS unsaturated triaxial apparatus was used. Then the triaxial creep experiments on weak intercalated soil samples under varying matric suction were conducted to obtain the unsaturated creep curves. The results show that the weak intercalated soils have obvious creep behaviors, and the creep strain is in nonlinear relationship with stress and time. When the matric suction is constant, a larger deviator stress will lead to a larger creep strain; When the deviator stress is constant, a smaller matric suction will lead to a larger creep strain. Based on the Mesri creep model, an improved creep model for weak intercalated soils under varying matric suction was established, in which the relationship of stress-strain was expressed with a hyperbolic function, and the relationship of strain-time was expressed with power functions in stages. Then an unsaturated creep model including stress-matric suction-strain-time for weak intercalated soils was established based on the power function relationship between matric suction and Ed(a parameter of the improved creep model). The comparison of the calculated values of creep model and the experimental values shows that the creep behaviors of weak intercalated soils can be predicted by the unsaturated creep model by and large.