Fatigue crack growth in a nickel-based superalloy at elevated temperature - experimental studies, viscoplasticity modelling and XFEM predictions

Nickel-based superalloys are typically used as blades and discs in the hot section of gas turbine engines, which are subjected to cyclic loading at high temperature during service. Understanding fatigue crack deformation and growth in these alloys at high temperature is crucial for ensuring structural integrity of gas turbines.

Experimental studies of crack growth were carried out for a three-point bending specimen subjected to fatigue at 725°C. In order to remove the influence of oxidation which can be considerable at elevated temperature, crack growth was particularly tested in a vacuum environment with a focus on dwell effects. For simulation, the material behaviour was described by a cyclic viscoplastic model with nonlinear kinematic and isotropic hardening rules, calibrated against test data. In combination with the extended finite element method (XFEM), the viscoplasticity model was further applied to predict crack growth under dwell fatigue. The crack was assumed to grow when the accumulated plastic strain ahead of the crack tip reached a critical value which was back calculated from crack growth test data in vacuum.

Computational analyses of a stationary crack showed the progressive accumulation of strain near the crack tip under fatigue, which justified the strain accumulation criterion used in XFEM prediction of fatigue crack growth. During simulation, the crack length was recorded against the number of loading cycles, and the results were in good agreement with the experimental data. It was also shown, both experimentally and numerically, that an increase of dwell period leads to an increase of crack growth rate due to the increased creep deformation near the crack tip, but this effect is marginal when compared to the dwell effects under fatigue-oxidation conditions.

The strain accumulation criterion was successful in predicting both the path and the rate of crack growth under dwell fatigue. This work proved the capability of XFEM, in conjunction with advanced cyclic viscoplasticity model, for predicting crack growth in nickel alloys at elevated temperature, which has significant implication to gas turbine industries in terms of “damage tolerance” assessment of critical turbine discs and blades.