Creep crack growth rate predictions in 316H steel using stress dependent creep ductility

Short and long term trends in creep crack growth (CCG) rate data over test times of 500–30 000 h are available for Austenitic Type 316H stainless steel at 550°C using compact tension, C(T), specimens. The relationship between CCG rate and its dependence on creep ductility, strain rate and plastic strain levels has been examined. Uniaxial creep data from a number of batches of 316H stainless steel, over the temperature range 550–750°C, have been collected and analysed. Power-law correlations have been determined between the creep ductility, creep rupture times and average creep strain rate data with stress σ normalised by flow stress σ0·2 over the range 0·2<σ/σ0·2<3 for uniaxial creep tests times between 100 and 100 000 h. Creep ductility exhibits upper shelf and lower shelf values which are joined by a stress dependent transition region. The creep strain rate and creep rupture exponents have been correlated with stress using a two-stage power-law fit over the stress range 0·2<σ/σ0·2<3 for temperatures between 550 and 750°C, where it is known that power-law creep dominates. For temperature and stress ranges where no data are currently available, the data trend lines have been extrapolated to provide predictions over the full stress range. A stress dependent creep ductility and strain rate model has been implemented in a ductility exhaustion constraint based damage model using finite element (FE) analysis to predict CCG rates in 316H stainless steel at 550°C. The predicted CCG results are compared to analytical constant creep ductility CCG models (termed NSW models), assuming both plane stress and plane strain conditions, and validated against long and short term CCG test data at 550°C. Good agreement has been found between the FE predicted CCG trends and the available experimental data over a wide stress range although it has been shown that upper-bound NSW plane strain predictions for long term tests are overly conservative.