Você está na página 1de 6

CHAPTER 1

Fundamentals of Creep in
Materials
Contents
1. Introduction
1.1 Description of Creep
1.2 Objectives

1
1
6

1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 Description of Creep
Creep of materials is classically associated with time-dependent plasticity
under a xed stress at an elevated temperature, often greater than roughly
0.5 Tm, where Tm is the absolute melting temperature. The plasticity under
these conditions is described in Figure 1 for constant stress (a) and constant
strain rate (b) conditions. Several aspects of the curve in Figure 1 require
explanation. First, three regions are delineated: Stage I, or primary creep,
which denotes that portion where (in (a)) the creep rate (plastic strain rate),
_ d=dt is changing with increasing plastic strain or time. In Figure 1(a),
the primary creep rate decreases with increasing strain, but with some types
of creep, such as solute drag with 3-power creep, an inverted primary
occurs where the strain rate increases with strain. Analogously, in (b), under
constant strain rate conditions, the metal hardens, resulting in increasing
ow stresses. Often, in pure metals, the strain rate decreases or the stress
increases to a value that is constant over a range of strain. The phenomenon
is termed Stage II, secondary, or steady-state (SS) creep. Eventually, cavitation and/or cracking increases the apparent strain rate or decreases the ow
stress. This regime is termed Stage III, or tertiary, creep and leads to fracture.
Sometimes, Stage I leads directly to Stage III and an inection is observed.
Thus, care must sometimes be exercised in concluding a mechanical SS.
The term creep as applied to plasticity of materials likely arose from
the observation that at modest and constant stress, at or even below the
macroscopic yield stress of the metal (at a conventional strain rate), plastic
deformation occurs over time as described in Figure 1(a). This is in contrast
Fundamentals of Creep in Metals and Alloys
ISBN 978-0-08-099427-7
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-099427-7.00001-3

2015 Elsevier Ltd.


All rights reserved.

Fundamentals of Creep in Metals and Alloys

Figure 1 Constant true stress and constant strain rate creep behavior in pure and
Class M (or Class I) metals.

with the general observation, such as at ambient temperature, where a


material deformed at, for example, 0.10.3 Tm, shows very little plasticity
under constant stress at or below the yield stress, again, at conventional or
typical tensile testing strain rates (e.g., 104103 s1). (The latter observation is not always true as it has been observed that some primary creep is
observed (e.g., a few percent strain, or so) over relatively short periods of
time at stresses less than the yield stress (e.g., [1,2])).
We observe in Figure 2 that at the typical testing strain rate of about
104 s1, the yield stress is sy1. However, if we decrease the testing strain
rate to, for example, 107 s1, the yield stress decreases signicantly, as will
be shown is common for metals and alloys at high temperatures. To a rst
approximation, we might consider the microstructure (created by dislocation microstructure evolution with plasticity) at just 0.002 plastic strain to
be independent of _ . In this case, we might describe the change in yield

Fundamentals of Creep in Materials

Figure 2 Creep behavior at two different constant strain rates.

stress to be the sole result of the _ change and predicted by the constant
structure stress-sensitivity exponent, N, dened by.
N v ln _ =v ln sT;s

(1)

where T and s refer to temperature and the substructural features, respectively. Sometimes, the sensitivity of the creep rate to changes in stress is
described by a constant structure strain-rate sensitivity exponent, m 1/
N. Generally, N is relatively high at lower temperatures [3] which implies
that signicant changes in the strain rate do not dramatically affect the ow
stress. In pure fcc metals, N is typically between 50 and 250 [3]. At higher
temperatures, the values may approach 10, or so [310]. N is graphically
described in Figure 3. The trends of N versus temperature for nickel are
illustrated in Figure 4.
Another feature of the hypothetical behaviors in Figure 2 is that (at the
identical temperature) not only is the yield stress at a strain rate of 107 s1
lower than it is at 104 s1, but also the peak stress or, perhaps, SS stress,
which is maintained over a substantial strain range, is less than the yield stress
at a strain rate of 104 s1. (Whether SS occurs at, for example, ambient
temperature has not been fully settled, as large strains are not easily
achievable. Stage IV and/or recrystallization may preclude this SS [1113].)

Fundamentals of Creep in Metals and Alloys

Figure 3 A graphic description of the constant structure strain rate sensitivity


experiment, N (1/m) and the steady-state stress exponent, n.

Figure 4 The values of n and N as a function of temperature for nickel. Data from
Ref. [7].

Fundamentals of Creep in Materials

Thus, if a constant stress sss2 is applied to the material, then a substantial


strain may be easily achieved at a low strain rate despite the stress being
substantially below the conventional yield stress at the higher rate of
104 s1. Thus, creep is, basically, a result of signicant strain rate sensitivity
together with low strain hardening. We observe in Figure 4 that N decreases to relatively small values above about 0.5 Tm, while N is relatively
high below about this temperature. This implies that we would expect that
creep would be more pronounced at higher temperatures, and less
obvious at lower temperatures, because, as will be shown subsequently,
work-hardening generally diminishes with increasing temperature and N
also decreases (more strain rate sensitive). The above description/explanation for creep is consistent with earlier descriptions [14]. Again, it should be
emphasized that the maximum stress, sss2 , in a constant strain rate _ test, is
often referred to as a SS stress (when it is the result of a balance of hardening
and dynamic recovery processes, which will be discussed later). The creep
rate of 107 s1 that leads to the SS stress sss2 is the same creep rate that
would be achieved in a constant stress test at sss2 . Hence, at sss2 , 107 s1 is
the SS creep rate. The variation in the SS creep rate with the applied stress is
often described by the SS stress exponent, n, dened by.
n d ln _ ss =d ln sss T

(2)

This exponent is described in Figure 3. Of course, with hardening, n is


expected to be less than N. This is illustrated in Figures 3 and 4. As just
mentioned, generally, the lower the strain rate, or higher the temperature,
the less pronounced is the strain hardening. This is illustrated in Figure 5,
reproduced from [15], where the stress-versus-strain behavior of highpurity aluminum is illustrated over a wide range of temperatures and
strain rates. All these tests use a constant strain rate. The gure shows that
with increasing temperature, the yield stress decreases, as expected. Also, for
a given temperature, increases in strain rate are associated with increases in
the yield stress of the annealed aluminum. That is, increases in temperature
and strain rate tend to oppose each other with respect to ow stress. This
can be rationalized by considering plasticity to be a thermally activated
process. Figure 5 also illustrates that hardening is more dramatic at lower
temperatures (and higher strain rates). The general trend that the strain to
achieve SS increases with increasing stress (decreasing temperature and/or
increasing strain rate) is also illustrated. This explanation describes constantstress behavior in terms of constant strain rate stress-versus-strain behavior
and cannot be considered a fundamental explanation of creep.

Fundamentals of Creep in Metals and Alloys

Figure 5 The stress-versus-strain behavior of high-purity aluminum. Data from Ref. [15].

1.2 Objectives
There have been other, often short, reviews of creepdnotably, Sherby and
Burke [16], Takeuchi and Argon [17], Argon [18], Orlova and Cadek
[19], Cadek [20], Mukherjee, [21], Blum [22], Nabarro and de Villiers [23],
Weertman [24,25], Evans and Wilshire [28], Kassner and Prez-Prado [29],
and others [3032]. These, however, often do not include some important
recent work and have sometimes been relatively brief (and, as a result, are
not always very comprehensive). Thus, it was believed important to provide
a new description of creep that is extensive, current, and balanced. Creep is
discussed in the context of traditional 5-power-law creep, Nabarro-Herring,
Coble, diffusional creep, Harper-Dorn, low-temperature creep (powerlaw-breakdown), as well as with 3-power viscous glide creep, particlestrengthening super-plasticity, low-temperature creep, creep of amorphous
metals and alloys, and creep fracture. Each will be discussed separately.
Deformation maps have been formulated for a variety of metals [33].

Você também pode gostar