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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2004

Subsurface Stress Fields in FCC Single Crystal Anisotropic Contacts

Single crystal superalloy turbine blades used in high pressure turbomachinery are subject to conditions of high temperature, triaxial steady and alternating stresses, fretting stresses in the blade attachment and damper contact locations, and exposure to high-pressure hydrogen. The blades are also subjected to extreme variations in temperature during start-up and shutdown transients. The most prevalent high cycle fatigue (HCF) failure modes observed in these blades during operation include crystallographic crack initiation/propagation on octahedral planes, and non-crystallographic initiation with crystallographic growth. Numerous cases of crack initiation and crack propagation at the blade leading edge tip, blade attachment regions, and damper contact locations have been documented. Understanding crack initiation/propagation under mixed-mode loading conditions is critical for establishing a systematic procedure for evaluating HCF life of single crystal turbine blades. This paper presents analytical and numerical techniques for evaluating two and three dimensional subsurface stress fields in anisotropic contacts. The subsurface stress results are required for evaluating contact fatigue life at damper contacts and dovetail attachment regions in single crystal nickel-base superalloy turbine blades. An analytical procedure is presented for evaluating the subsurface stresses in the elastic half-space, based on the adaptation of a stress function method outlined by Lekhnitskii. Numerical results are presented for cylindrical and spherical anisotropic contacts, using finite element analysis (FEA). Effects of crystal orientation on stress response and fatigue life are examined. Obtaining accurate subsurface stress results for anisotropic single crystal contact problems require extremely refined three-dimensional (3-D) finite element grids, especially in the edge of contact region. Obtaining resolved shear stresses (RSS) on the principal slip planes also involves considerable post-processing work. For these reasons it is very advantageous to develop analytical solution schemes for subsurface stresses, whenever possible.

Arakere, Nagaraj K.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Vapor crystal growth studies of single crystals of mercuric iodide (3-IML-1)

A single crystal of mercuric iodide (HgI2) will be grown during the International Microgravity Lab. (IML-1) mission. The crystal growth process takes place by sublimation of HgI2 from an aggregate of purified material, transport of the molecules in the vapor from the source to the crystal, and condensation on the crystal surface. The objectives of the experiment are as follow: to grow a high quality crystal of HgI2 of sufficient size so that its properties can be extensively analyzed; and to study the vapor transport process, specifically the rate of diffusion transport at greatly reduced gravity where convection is minimized.

Vandenberg, Lodewijk↗
NASA NTRS2000

Effect of Crystal Orientation on Fatigue Failure of Single Crystal Nickel Base Turbine Blade Superalloys

High Cycle Fatigue (HCF) induced failures in aircraft gas-turbine engines is a pervasive problem affecting a wide range of components and materials. HCF is currently the primary cause of component failures in gas turbine aircraft engines. Turbine blades in high performance aircraft and rocket engines are increasingly being made of single crystal nickel superalloys. Single-crystal Nickel-base superalloys were developed to provide superior creep, stress rupture, melt resistance and thermomechanical fatigue capabilities over polycrystalline alloys previously used in the production of turbine blades and vanes. Currently the most widely used single crystal turbine blade superalloys are PWA 1480/1493 and PWA 1484. These alloys play an important role in commercial, military and space propulsion systems. PWA1493, identical to PWA1480, but with tighter chemical constituent control, is used in the NASA SSME (Space Shuttle Main Engine) alternate turbopump, a liquid hydrogen fueled rocket engine. Objectives for this paper are motivated by the need for developing failure criteria and fatigue life evaluation procedures for high temperature single crystal components, using available fatigue data and finite element modeling of turbine blades. Using the FE (finite element) stress analysis results and the fatigue life relations developed, the effect of variation of primary and secondary crystal orientations on life is determined, at critical blade locations. The most advantageous crystal orientation for a given blade design is determined. Results presented demonstrates that control of secondary and primary crystallographic orientation has the potential to optimize blade design by increasing its resistance to fatigue crack growth without adding additional weight or cost.

Arakere, Nagaraj K.↗
NASA NTRS2004

Subsurface Stress Fields In Single Crystal (Anisotropic) Contacts

Single crystal superalloy turbine blades used in high pressure turbomachinery are subject to conditions of high temperature, triaxial steady and alternating stresses, fretting stresses in the blade attachment and damper contact locations, and exposure to high-pressure hydrogen. The blades are also subjected to extreme variations in temperature during start-up and shutdown transients. The most prevalent HCF failure modes observed in these blades during operation include crystallographic crack initiation/propagation on octahedral planes, and noncrystallographic initiation with crystallographic growth. Numerous cases of crack initiation and crack propagation at the blade leading edge tip, blade attachment regions, and damper contact locations have been documented. Understanding crack initiation/propagation under mixed-mode loading conditions is critical for establishing a systematic procedure for evaluating HCF life of single crystal turbine blades. This paper presents analytical and numerical techniques for evaluating two and three dimensional subsurface stress fields in anisotropic contacts. The subsurface stress results are required for evaluating contact fatigue life at damper contacts and dovetail attachment regions in single crystal nickel-base superalloy turbine blades. An analytical procedure is , presented, for evaluating the subsurface stresses in the elastic half-space, using a complex potential method outlined by Lekhnitskii. Numerical results are presented for cylindrical and spherical anisotropic contacts, using finite element analysis. Effects of crystal orientation on stress response and fatigue life are examined.

Arakere, Nagaraj K.↗
NASA NTRS2000

Effect of Crystal Orientation on Analysis of Single-Crystal, Nickel-Based Turbine Blade Superalloys

High-cycle fatigue-induced failures in turbine and turbopump blades is a pervasive problem. Single-crystal nickel turbine blades are used because of their superior creep, stress rupture, melt resistance, and thermomechanical fatigue capabilities. Single-crystal materials have highly orthotropic properties making the position of the crystal lattice relative to the part geometry a significant and complicating factor. A fatigue failure criterion based on the maximum shear stress amplitude on the 24 octahedral and 6 cube slip systems is presented for single-crystal nickel superalloys (FCC crystal). This criterion greatly reduces the scatter in uniaxial fatigue data for PWA 1493 at 1,200 F in air. Additionally, single-crystal turbine blades used in the Space Shuttle main engine high pressure fuel turbopump/alternate turbopump are modeled using a three-dimensional finite element (FE) model. This model accounts for material orthotrophy and crystal orientation. Fatigue life of the blade tip is computed using FE stress results and the failure criterion that was developed. Stress analysis results in the blade attachment region are also presented. Results demonstrate that control of crystallographic orientation has the potential to significantly increase a component's resistance to fatigue crack growth without adding additional weight or cost.

Swanson, G. R.↗
NASA NTRS2003

Subsurface Stress Fields in Single Crystal (Anisotropic) Contacts

Single crystal superalloy turbine blades used in high pressure turbomachinery are subject to conditions of high temperature, triaxial steady and fatigue stresses, fretting stresses in the blade attachment and damper contact locations, and exposure to high-pressure hydrogen. The blades are also subjected to extreme variations in temperature during start-up and shutdown transients. The most prevalent HCF failure modes observed in these blades during operation include crystallographic crack initiation/propagation on octahedral planes, and noncrystallographic initiation with crystallographic growth. Numerous cases of crack initiation and crack propagation at the blade leading edge tip, blade attachment regions, and damper contact locations have been documented. Understanding crack initiation/propagation under mixed-mode loading conditions is critical for establishing a systematic procedure for evaluating HCF life of single crystal turbine blades. Techniques for evaluating two and three dimensional subsurface stress fields in anisotropic contacts are presented in this report. Figure 1 shows typical damper contact locations in a turbine blade. The subsurface stress results are used for evaluating contact fatigue life at damper contacts and dovetail attachment regions in single crystal nickel-base superalloy turbine blades.

Arakere, Nagaraj K.↗
NASA NTRS2002

Three-Dimensional Stress Fields and Slip Systems for Single Crystal Superalloy Notched Specimens

Single crystal superalloys have become increasingly popular for turbine blade and vane applications due to their high strength, and creep and fatigue resistance at elevated temperatures. The crystallographic orientation of a single crystal material greatly affects its material properties, including elastic modulus, shear modulus, and ductility. These directional properties, along with the type of loading and temperature, dictate an anisotropic response in the yield strength, creep resistance, creep rupture ductility, fatigue resistance, etc. A significant amount of research has been conducted to determine the material properties in the <001> orientation, yet the material properties deviating from the <001> orientation have not been assessed for all cases. Based on the desired application and design criteria, a crystal orientation is selected to yield the maximum properties. Currently, single crystal manufacturing is able to control the primary crystallographic orientation within 15 of the target orientation, which is an acceptable deviation to meet both performance and cost guidelines; the secondary orientation is rarely specified. A common experiment is the standard load-controlled tensile test, in which specimens with different orientations can be loaded to observe the material response. The deformation behavior of single-crystal materials under tension and compression is known to be a function of not only material orientation, but also of varying microdeformation (i.e. dislocation) mechanisms. The underlying dislocation motion causes deformation via slip, and affects the activation of specific slip systems based on load and orientation. The slip can be analyzed by observing the visible traces left on the surface of the specimen from the slip activity within the single crystal material. The goal of this thesis was to predict the slip systems activated in three-dimensional stress fields of a notched tensile specimen, as a function of crystal orientation, using finite element analysis without addressing microstructural deformation mechanisms that govern their activation. Out of three orientations tested, the specimen with a [110] load orientation and a [001] growth direction had the lowest maximum resolved shear stress; this specimen orientation appears to be the best design candidate for a tensile application.

Magnan, Shannon M.↗
NASA NTRS2001

The Effect of Hydrogen Annealing on the Oxidation Resistance of Four EPM Single Crystal Superalloys

Four single crystal EPM (enabling propulsion materials) developmental airfoil superalloys were hydrogen annealed at 1300 C for up to 100 hours to remove sulfur and improve oxidation resistance. Although the 1100 and 1150 C cyclic oxidation resistance was remarkably improved by annealing for 24 or 100 hours, the behavior was still considerably inferior to that of commercially available single crystal superalloys, especially those that are either Y-doped or hydrogen annealed. Excessive degradation in the developmental alloys appeared to be correlated with low Cr contents and, to a lesser extent, high Co and Re contents.

Smialek, James L.↗
NASA NTRS2023

Recrystallization of A Shot Peened Single Crystal Nickel-Base Superalloy

Single crystal nickel-base superalloys used as turbine engine airfoils can have much higher creep and thermal fatigue resistance required for blades and vanes than polycrystalline superalloys due to the absence of weak grain boundaries, as well as the low elastic modulus in the [001] single crystal growth direction (Refs. 1 and 2). This has allowed an increase in the turbine rim inlet temperatures for improved performance and efficiency. However, these advantages in performance require constraints on acceptable levels of single crystal defects, such as macroscopic grain boundaries at low angles to the primary grain (i.e., low angle boundaries or LAB), higher angle boundaries, small new grains nucleated at the blade surface (a.k.a. freckles), larger new grains, and also the single crystal blades’ orientation, typically degrees off of the [001] direction and the orientation of a transverse [010] direction with respect to blade geometry. Therefore, single crystal turbine airfoils, which are frequently used with as-cast surfaces, are grain etched and inspected before and after heat treatments to ensure these aspects conform to acceptability limits.

single crystal↗
NASA NTRS2000

Fretting Stresses in Single Crystal Superalloy Turbine Blade Attachments

Single crystal nickel base superalloy turbine blades are being utilized in rocket engine turbopumps and turbine engines because of their superior creep, stress rupture, melt resistance and thermomechanical fatigue capabilities over polycrystalline alloys. Currently the most widely used single crystal nickel base turbine blade superalloys are PWA 1480/1493 and PWA 1484. These alloys play an important role in commercial, military and space propulsion systems. High Cycle Fatigue (HCF) induced failures in aircraft gas turbine and rocket engine turbopump blades is a pervasive problem. Blade attachment regions are prone to fretting fatigue failures. Single crystal nickel base superalloy turbine blades are especially prone to fretting damage because the subsurface shear stresses induced by fretting action at the attachment regions can result in crystallographic initiation and crack growth along octahedral planes. Furthermore, crystallographic crack growth on octahedral planes under fretting induced mixed mode loading can be an order of magnitude faster than under pure mode I loading. This paper presents contact stress evaluation in the attachment region for single crystal turbine blades used in the NASA alternate Advanced High Pressure Fuel Turbo Pump (HPFTP/AT) for the Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME). Single crystal materials have highly orthotropic properties making the position of the crystal lattice relative to the part geometry a significant factor in the overall analysis. Blades and the attachment region are modeled using a large-scale 3D finite element (FE) model capable of accounting for contact friction, material orthotrophy, and variation in primary and secondary crystal orientation. Contact stress analysis in the blade attachment regions is presented as a function of coefficient of friction and primary and secondary crystal orientation, Stress results are used to discuss fretting fatigue failure analysis of SSME blades. Attachment stresses are seen to reach peak values at locations where fretting cracks have been observed. Fretting stresses at the attachment region are seen to vary significantly as a function of crystal orientation. Attempts to adapt techniques used for estimating fatigue life in the airfoil region, for life calculations in the attachment region, are presented. An effective model for predicting crystallographic crack initiation under mixed mode loading is required for life prediction under fretting action.

Arakere, Nagaraj K.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Fatigue behavior of a single-crystal superalloy

A single-crystal superalloy, PWA 1480 is under consideration as a replacement material for the turbine blades of the high pressure fuel turbopump (HPFTP) of the space shuttle main engine (SSME). Three separate experimental programs were conducted to characterize the fatigue behavior of this alloy. Fatigue tests were conducted at room temperature (in air) and at 1000 F (in vacuum) on smooth specimens machined from both cast bars and slabs. The data from all of these programs are consolidated to provide a broader characterization of the fatigue behavior of the single crystal PWA 1480. The zero-mean-stress fatigue relationships are expressed in terms of stress range versus cyclic life lines on log-log plots. Characterization of the fatigue behavior of (001) oriented PWA 1480 single crystal under conditions of tensile mean stress was performed by using the unified approach proposed by Heidmann. In this approach the fatigue life is modified by a mean stress parameter so that a single life relationship can be used to represent both zero and tensile mean stress data.

Kalluri, Sreeramesh↗
NASA NTRS1988

Unified constitutive model for single crystal deformation behavior with applications

Single crystal materials are being used in gas turbine airfoils and are candidates for other hot section components because of their increased temperature capabilities and resistance to thermal fatigue. Development of a constitutive model which assesses the inelastic behavior of these materials has been studied in 2 NASA programs: Life Prediction and Constitutive Models for Engine Hot Section Anisotropic Materials and Biaxial Constitutive Equation Development for Single Crystals. The model has been fit to a large body of constitutive data for single crystal PWA 1480 material. The model uses a unified approach for computing total inelastic strains (creep plus plasticity) on crystallographic slip systems reproducing observed directional and strain rate effects as a natural consequence of the summed slip system quantities. The model includes several of the effects that have been reported to influence deformation in single crystal materials, such as shear stress, latent hardening, and cross slip. The model is operational in a commercial Finite Element code and is being installed in a Boundary Element Method code.

Walker, K. P.↗
NASA NTRS2000

Creep Properties of NiAl-1Hf Single Crystals Re-Investigated

NiAl-1Hf single crystals have been shown to be quite strong at 1027 C, with strength levels approaching those of advanced Ni-based superalloys. Initial testing, however, indicated that the properties might not be reproducible. Study of the 1027 C creep behavior of four different NiAl-1Hf single-crystal ingots subjected to several different heat treatments indicated that strength lies in a narrow band. Thus, we concluded that the mechanical properties are reproducible. Recent investigations of the intermetallic NiAl have confirmed that minor alloying additions combined with single-crystal growth technology can produce elevated temperature strength levels approaching those of Ni-based superalloys. For example, General Electric alloy AFN 12 {Ni-48.5(at.%) Al-0.5Hf-1Ti-0.05Ga} has a creep rupture strength equivalent to Rene 80 combined with a approximately 30-percent lower density, a fourfold improvement in thermal conductivity, and the ability to form a self-protective alumina scale in aggressive environments. Although the compositions of strong NiAl single crystals are relatively simple, the microstructures are complex and vary with the heat treatment and with small ingot-toingot variations in the alloy chemistry. In addition, initial testing suggested a strong dependence between microstructure and creep strength. If these observations were true, the ability to utilize NiAl single-crystal rotating components in turbine machinery could be severely limited. To investigate the possible limitations in the creep response of high-strength NiAl single crystals, the NASA Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field initiated an in depth investigation of the effect of heat treatment on the microstructure and subsequent 1027 C creep behavior of [001]-oriented NiAl-1Hf with a nominal chemistry of Ni-47.5Al-1Hf-0.5Si. This alloy was selected since four ingots, grown over a number of years and possessing slightly different compositions, were available for study. Specimens taken from the ingots were subjected to several heat treatment schedules, examined by transmission electron microscopy, and tested in both compression and tension. An example of the microstructure found in a [001]-oriented NiAl-1Hf specimen after a solution treatment at 1317 C for 50 hr followed by air cooling is illustrated in the image on the left, where the NiAl matrix contains a uniform distribution of nanometer-scale Gphase (Ni16Hf6Si7) precipitates. Other heat treating schedules produced microstructures with nanometer-sized G-phase cubes and plates or, in an extreme case, produced a microstructure with all the G-phase converted to Heusler (Ni2AlHf) particles. The results of 1027 C creep strength and strain rate testing are illustrated which summarizes data from tensile and compressive testing of samples cut from all four NiAl-1Hf ingots and subjected to a variety of heat treatment schedules. With one exception, all the strength values lie in a narrow band that spans six orders of magnitude in strain rate. The only factor that produced results outside of this band was the heat treatment schedule that dissolved all the G-phase and replaced it with Heusler precipitates. The results portrayed in this figure lead to the important practical conclusion that the elevated-temperature creep properties of NiAl-1Hf single crystals are reproducible and are not affected by small variations in alloy chemistry from ingot to ingot or by different initial distributions of G-phase in the heat-treated alloy. The only variable in this study that produced a significant and delerious effect on mechanical strength was a post-solution heat treatment that lead to the complete disappearance of the G-phase in favor of Heusler precipitates.

Whittenberger, J. Daniel↗
NASA NTRS1976

Rolling-contact deformation of MgO single crystals

Magnesium oxide single crystals were used as a model bearing material and deformed by rolling contact with a steel ball 0.64 cm in diameter. A dependence of depth of slip on rolling velocity which persisted with increasing numbers of rolling-contact cycles was discovered. The track width, track hardness and dislocation interactions as observed by transmission electron microscopy all increased in a consistent manner with increasing cycles. The rolling-contact state of stress produces a high density of dislocations in a localized zone. Dislocation interaction in this zone produces cleavage-type cracks after a large number of rolling-contact cycles. The orientation of the crystal influences the character of dislocation accumulation.

Dufrane, K. F.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Electrical switching in cadmium boracite single crystals

Cadmium boracite single crystals at high temperatures ( 300 C) were found to exhibit a reversible electric field-induced transition between a highly insulative and a conductive state. The switching threshold is smaller than a few volts for an electrode spacing of a few tenth of a millimeter corresponding to an electric field of 100 to 1000 V/cm. This is much smaller than the dielectric break-down field for an insulator such as boracite. The insulative state reappears after voltage removal. A pulse technique revealed two different types of switching. Unstable switching occurs when the pulse voltage slightly exceeds the switching threshold and is characterized by a pre-switching delay and also a residual current after voltage pulse removal. A stable type of switching occurs when the voltage becomes sufficiently high. Possible device applications of this switching phenomenon are discussed.

Takahashi, T.↗