This paper presents the high-temperature creep-fatigue testing of a Ni-based superalloy of Alloy 617 base metal and weldments at 900 °C. Creep-fatigue tests were conducted with fully reversed axial strain control at a total strain range of 0.6%, 1.2%, and 1.5%, and peak tensile hold time of 60, 180, and 300 s. The effects of different constituents on the combined creep-fatigue endurance such as hold time, strain range, and stress relaxation behavior are discussed. Under all creep-fatigue tests, weldments’ creep-fatigue life was less than base metal. In comparison with the low-cycle fatigue condition, the introduction of hold time decreased the cycle number of both base metal and weldments. Creep-fatigue lifetime in the base metal was continually decreased by increasing the tension hold time, except for weldments under longer hold time (>180 s). In all creep-fatigue tests, intergranular brittle cracks near the crack tip and thick oxide scales at the surface were formed, which were linked to the mixed-mode creep and fatigue cracks. Creep-fatigue interaction in the damage-diagram (D-Diagram) (i.e., linear damage summation) was evaluated from the experimental results. The linear damage summation was found to be suitable for the current limited test conditions, and one can enclose all the data points within the proposed scatter band.

The aim of this study is to investigate the fully‐reversed low cycle fatigue properties of Alloy 617 in the air at 950 °C; these tests were conducted at total strain ranges from 0.9% to 1.5% with a constant strain rate of 10−3/s. The result of the fatigue tests showed a decrease in fatigue resistance with an increasing total strain range. The reduction of fatigue resistance was due to the effect of the total strain range and microstructure evolution during high temperature, such as brittle oxides cracking. At all testing conditions, the cyclic softening mechanism was observed as a function of the total strain range in the current high temperature condition. An analysis of low cycle fatigue resistance was performed using the Coffin–Manson relationship and the total strain energy density; it was found that Alloy 617 followed these relationships well. In addition, this study compared well with previous work reported in the literature for a similar testing condition. Post‐fracture analysis on the fracture surfaces of failed specimens revealed a more severe damage cracking at the periphery of specimens due to the increase in the total strain range. The surface connected grain boundary cracks induced by oxidation were obvious at low strain range. Thus, the primary crack propagation occurred in transgranular mode from persistent slip bands.

In order to better understand the high temperature low cycle fatigue behavior of Alloy 617 weldments, this work focuses on the comparative study of the low cycle fatigue behavior of Alloy 617 base metal and weldments, made from automated gas tungsten arc welding with Alloy 617 filler wire. Low cycle fatigue tests were carried out by a series of fully reversed strain-controls (strain ratio, R_ε = −1), i.e., 0.6%, 0.9%, 1.2% and 1.5% at a high temperature of 900 °C and a constant strain rate of 10⁻³/s. At all the testing conditions, the weldment specimens showed lower fatigue lives compared with the base metal due to their microstructural heterogeneities. The effect of very high temperature deformation behavior regarding cyclic stress response varied as a complex function of material property and total strain range. The Alloy 617 base weldments showed some cyclic hardening as a function of total strain range. However, the Alloy 617 base metal showed some cyclic softening induced by solute drag creep during low cycle fatigue. An analysis of the low cycle fatigue data based on a Coffin-Manson relationship was carried out. Fracture surface characterizations were performed on selected fractured specimens using standard metallographic techniques.

Cyclic stress response and fracture behaviors of Alloy 617 base metal (BM) and Alloy 617 weld joints (WJ) are investigated under strain controlled low cycle fatigue (LCF) loading. Axial fully reversed total-strain controlled tests have been conducted at room temperature with total strain ranges of 0.6, 0.9, 1.2, and 1.5%. At the all testing conditions, weld joint specimens have shown higher peak stresses than the base metal specimens, whereas the plastic strain accumulation of the base metal specimens is comparatively higher than those of the weld joint specimens. The cyclic stress response behavior of both base metal and weld joint specimens revealed initial cyclic hardening during first small number of cycles followed by progressive softening to failure. Higher strain amplitudes decreased the fatigue lives for both base metal and weld joint specimens; subsequently weld joint specimens had lower fatigue resistances relative to base metal specimens. Furthermore, the cracking in weld joint specimens initiated in the weld metal (WM) region. The crack initiation and propagation showed transgranular mode for both base metal and weld joint specimens; especially weld joint specimens showed a wedge type crack initiation about 45 degrees to the loading direction because of the dendritic structure.

In this study, we comparatively investigate the low cycle fatigue behavior of Alloy 617 (INCONEL 617) weldments by gas tungsten arc welding process at room temperature and 800 °C in the air to support the qualification in high temperature applications of the Next Generation-IV Nuclear Plant. Axial total-strain controlled tests have been performed with the magnitude of strain ranges with a constant strain ratio (R_ε = −1). The results of fatigue tests consistently show lower fatigue life with an increase in total strain range and temperature at all testing conditions. The reduction in fatigue life may result from the higher cyclic plastic strain accumulation and the material ductility at high temperature conditions. A constitutive behavior of high temperature by some cyclic hardening was observed. The occurrence of serrated yielding in the cyclic stress response was also observed, suggesting the influence of dynamic strain aging during high temperature. We evaluated a well-known life prediction model through the Coffin-Manson relationship. The results are well matched with the experimental data. In addition, low cycle fatigue cracking occurred in the weld metal region and initiated transgranularly at the free surface.