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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 415 records · Page 23
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2023

Creep Properties of Shale and Predicted Impact on Proppant Embedment for the Caney Shale, Oklahoma

The Caney shale is an emerging hydrocarbon play located in southwest Oklahoma, USA. Within the Caney shale exist facies which were initially dubbed “reservoir” and “ductile” based on evaluation of well logging data. While past work has shown the distinction of “brittle” and “ductile” is not mechanically justifiable according to formal definitions, here the current work shows some important differences between nominally ductile and reservoir zones. First, the “ductile” zones are more clay rich and have textural differences which can be expected to lead to differences in mechanical properties. One important impact of these differences is observed in triaxial creep experiments showing the “ductile” zones are more prone to creep deformation. Numerical simulations predict the “reservoir” zones will experience very little proppant embedment due to creep deformation of hydraulic fractures around proppant particles. On the other hand, “ductile” zones can be expected to undergo creep-driven proppant embedment leading to loss of fracture aperture ranging up to 100% loss, depending upon the spatial density of the proppant distribution. Hence, this research shows the identification of nominally “ductile” zones from well logs, while a misnomer, can be useful in finding clay-rich, creep-prone zones which will be the most prone to proppant embedment and hence vulnerable to greater production decline over time.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2018

Tensile, Creep, and Fatigue Behaviors of 3D-Printed Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene

Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) is a widely used thermoplastics in 3D printing. However, there is a lack of thorough investigation of the mechanical properties of 3D-printed ABS components, including orientation-dependent tensile strength and creep fatigue properties. In this work, a systematic characterization is conducted on the mechanical properties of 3D-printed ABS components. Specifically, the effect of printing orientation on the tensile and creep properties is investigated. The results show that, in tensile tests, the 0° printing orientation has the highest Young’s modulus of 1.81 GPa, and ultimate strength of 224 MPa. In the creep test, the 90° printing orientation has the lowest k value of 0.2 in the plastics creep model, suggesting 90° is the most creep resistant direction. In the fatigue test, the average cycle number under load of 30 N is 3796 cycles. The average cycle number decreases to 128 cycles when the load is 60 N. Using the Paris law, with an estimated crack size of 0.75 mm, and stress intensity factor is varied from 352 to 700 N√m, the derived fatigue crack growth rate is 0.0341 mm/cycle. This study provides important mechanical property data that is useful for applying 3D-printed ABS in engineering applications.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2019

On the Relationship Between Dislocation Creep Strength and Microstructure of a Solid-Solution-Strengthened Ni-Base Superalloy

It is shown that the dislocation creep strength of a solid-solution-strengthened Ni-base superalloy is critically dependent upon the cooling rate from the annealing temperature. This behavior is correlated with the effect of cooling rate on the morphology of M{sub 23}C{sub 6}-type carbide which precipitates at grain boundaries during cooling. Experiment shows that the creep strength is enhanced by rapid cooling which results in discrete carbide particles with irregular shape following a zigzag path along the grain boundaries. However, the creep strength is degraded as the morphology is changed into lamellar type by a discontinuous grain boundary reaction which occurs during slower cooling rates. Due to the transition from the discrete particle into the lamellar morphology, plastic deformation becomes more localized alongside the grain boundaries which accelerates the creep rate leading to premature intergranular failure. On the other hand, it is also shown that the stacking fault energy of the alloy increases with temperature which can allow dislocations to rearrange themselves into subgrain structure with relative ease during steady-state creep.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2025

Creep Behavior of Friction Stir Processed Haynes 282

Haynes 282 is a nickel-based superalloy designed for use in hot sections of turbines for aircraft and power generation. In these applications, elevated temperature creep performance is critical. To that end, creep behavior of friction stir processed material was carried out to investigate the high-temperature performance of this alloy. Friction stir processing of Haynes 282 was successfully completed, and the processed region was found to be defect-free. Various mechanical property characterization approaches were carried out in post-heat treated condition. Transverse tensile samples repeatedly failed in the base metal indicating 100% joint efficiency. Creep property evaluation was completed at 760 °C and at various stress levels. The creep-rupture lifetime of the processed material was similar to the base metal. Detailed electron microscopy analysis of the failed sample was carried out to understand the microstructural evolution in various locations of the sample during creep.

creep↗
DOE OSTI2026

Prediction of Creep-Induced Strain Using a Symbolic Regression-Based Model

Material creep under high-temperature conditions limits the lifetime and safety of structural systems such as advanced nuclear reactors. Conventional creep testing is slow and often produces inconsistent results across nominally identical experiments, making lifetime prediction uncertain. Here, to address these challenges, this work develops a data-driven symbolic regression (SR) model that consolidates results from duplicate creep tests and predicts the remaining strain-time curve of an ongoing experiment. The method uses piece-wise multi-objective SR with physical constraints to generate analytic, interpretable functions describing transient creep strain. Applied to Inconel Alloy 617 data, the approach achieved relative mean absolute errors of 1.0–9.5%, providing closed-form predictions of strain evolution. These results demonstrate a first step toward reducing the duration and cost of long-term creep testing while retaining physically interpretable model forms.

11 - NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2018

A comprehensive first-principles study of solute elements in dilute Ni alloys: Diffusion coefficients and their implications to tailor creep rate

Diffusion regulates a vast number of materials properties and phenomena such as creep, the focus of the present work. However, a deep understanding of the effect of how each alloying element in a Ni-base superalloy affects properties such as diffusion and creep is far from complete. Here, in this study, we report temperature-dependent dilute solute diffusion coefficients and their implications to tailor the creep rate for 26 transition metal solute elements, X's, in fcc Ni using first-principles calculations. Calculations are performed using the five-frequency model for dilute solute diffusion and the nudged elastic band method within the local density approximation. Thermodynamic properties at finite temperatures for all configurations are calculated using the quasi-harmonic Debye model. In general, the fastest diffusing solute elements in Ni are found at the left side of the periodic table and the slowest diffusing solute elements are found in group VIIB. In particular, the present work indicates that the diffusivity of the dilute solute elements is correlated to the compressibility of each solute element on the respective Ni 31 X supercell, and not as strongly to the ionic radius of the solute elements, as previously suggested. Finally, results from the diffusivity study are combined with the previous results of elastic constants and stacking fault energies, and hence, a relative creep rate ratio for these 26 solute elements is modeled. It is shown that in most cases, slower diffusing solute elements provide the most creep resistance. This is true even at higher temperatures, due mainly to the solute's strong bonding with Ni atoms in the host lattice.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2023

Progression of creep deformation from grain boundaries to grain interior in Al-Cu-Mn-Zr alloys

Creep mechanisms are studied in θ'-Al 2 Cu-strengthened Al-Cu-Mn-Zr alloys at 300 and 350°C for (i) ACMZ, a base alloy without further alloying elements and (ii) RR350, a commercial alloy with additions of Ni and Co forming distinct grain-boundary precipitates. At high stresses, creep is dominated by dislocations bypassing θ' precipitates within grains via the Orowan mechanism, as evidenced by (i) very high stress exponent (n~20-25) and (ii) α-Al and θ' lattice strains (measured via in-situ neutron diffraction) evolving during creep in a manner consistent with load transfer from the plastically-deforming α-Al matrix to elastically-deforming θ' precipitates. At intermediate stresses, both alloys exhibit a n~3 regime, where α-Al and θ' lattice strains scale near-linearly with applied stress while remaining largely unaffected by strain accumulation, indicating that Orowan looping or dislocation pile-up around θ' is now inactive within the grains. Rather, dislocation motion occurs solely in θ'-precipitate-free zones (θ'-PFZ) where high dislocation densities are observed via TEM after creep deformation. Plastic flow at θ'-PFZ and/or localized pipe diffusion are expected to enable grain-boundary sliding (GBS), which is proposed as the rate-limiting mechanism in the n~3 regime. Ni/Co-rich precipitates at RR350 grain-boundaries, with negligible θ'-PFZ around them, share load (as determined via neutron diffraction) with the α-Al matrix more effectively than θ-Al 2 Cu precipitates at ACMZ grain-boundaries, with wide surrounding θ'-PFZ. So, high creep resistance in the n~3 GBS regime of RR350 is enabled by coarsening-resistant grain-boundary precipitates, forming without concomitant development of weak θ'-PFZ, which effectively share load with the grains.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2025

Effect of stress on Laves phase precipitation in creep ruptured Grade 92 ferritic martensitic steel characterized by a novel accessible method

At high temperature conditions relevant to fossil and nuclear energy plants, Laves phase (Fe 2 X, X=Mo, W) precipitation is observed in common ferritic martensitic (FM) structural steels, with various reported effects on creep behavior. Despite being valuable metrics to correlate with mechanical properties and other precipitate phases, the volume fraction and number density of Laves phase precipitates has been difficult to quantify accurately using common techniques such as transmission electron microscopy (TEM) due to the relatively large size (∼0.25 μm) and low number density (∼10 11 cm −3 ) of Laves precipitates. Here, to address this characterization challenge, we developed and demonstrated a high-throughput and widely accessible method to quantify the volume fraction and number density of the Laves phase based on scanning electron microscope (SEM) images with a backscattered electron signal and the information depth (ID) of backscattered electrons. We applied this new technique in creep ruptured Grade 92 FM steel to study the effect of Laves phase on creep properties and determine the influence of stress on Laves phase precipitation. The quantitative accuracy of the SEM-based volume fraction and number density values was verified using synchrotron high energy X-ray diffraction and serial sectioning tomography. Stress did not significantly affect the Laves phase size or volume fraction during creep testing at 550 – 650°C and stress levels of 90 – 260 MPa (vs. unstressed conditions). Conversely, a moderate but statistically significant stress-enhanced increase in Laves phase number density, corresponding to an increase in nucleation rate, occurred during creep exposure above 110 MPa.

Creep↗
DOE OSTI2015

Investigation of the effect of aggregates' morphology on concrete creep properties by numerical simulations

Prestress losses due to creep of concrete is a matter of interest for long-term operations of nuclear power plants containment buildings. Experimental studies by Granger (1995) have shown that concretes with similar formulations have different creep behaviors. The aim of this paper is to numerically investigate the effect of size distribution and shape of elastic inclusions on the long-term creep of concrete. Several microstructures with prescribed size distribution and spherical or polyhedral shape of inclusions are generated. By using the 3D numerical homogenization procedure for viscoelastic microstructures proposed by Šmilauer and Bažant (2010), it is shown that the size distribution and shape of inclusions have no measurable influence on the overall creep behavior. Moreover, a mean-field estimate provides close predictions. An Interfacial Transition Zone was introduced according to the model of Nadeau (2003). It is shown that this feature of concrete's microstructure can explain differences between creep behaviors.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2021

Experimental investigation of the short-term creep recovery of hardened cement paste at micrometre length scale

This paper presents an experimental investigation on the short-term creep recovery of cement paste at micrometre length scale. Micro-cantilever beams were fabricated and tested with 8 different loading series using the nanoindenter. It is found that cement pastes show high recovery ratios (>80%) even subjected to very high stress levels. Relatively lower recovery ratios and non-linear creep were also observed for w/c 0.4 samples under high stress levels. A good agreement is found between the results predicted using the linear superposition principle and the experimental results except for the measured non-linear creep in w/c 0.4 samples. It is suggested that the short-term creep recovery may be associated with the microscale stress redistribution or the reversible internal water movement. The observed non-linear creep under the highest stress level may be due to the higher density of microcracks generated during the loading stage, which may further promote the water transfer.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2021

Modeling creep behavior in ceramic matrix composites

Here, in this work, a three-dimensional viscoplasticity formulation with progressive damage is developed and used to investigate the complex time-dependent constituent load transfer and progressive damage behavior in ceramic matrix composites (CMCs) subjected to creep. The viscoplasticity formulation is based on Hill's orthotropic plastic potential, an associative flow rule, and the Norton-Bailey creep power law with Arrhenius temperature dependence. A fracture mechanics-informed isotropic matrix damage model is used to account for CMC brittle matrix damage initiation and propagation, in which two scalar damage variables capture the effects of matrix porosity as well as matrix property degradation due to matrix crack initiation and propagation. The Curtin progressive fiber damage model is utilized to simulate progressive fiber failure. The creep-damage formulation is subsequently implemented as a constitutive model in the generalized method of cells (GMC) micromechanics formulation to simulate time-dependent deformation and material damage under creep loading conditions. The developed framework is used to simulate creep of single fiber SiC/SiC microcomposites. Simulation results are in excellent agreement with experimental and numerical data available in the literature.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2020

The compositional optimization and secondary phases evaluation regarding the creep resistance in Grade 91 steel through the CALPHAD approach

The critical secondary phases along with critical temperatures in regard to the creep resistance of Grade 91 steel alloy were evaluated in order to optimize the composition of the alloy to improve the creep resistance. The critical temperatures which are highlighted in this paper are Ac1 (the threshold temperature in which austinite begins to form), and Ac3 (the threshold temperature at which ferrite is fully transformed into austenite). Furthermore, optimization was presented through various Cr, V, Nb, and N concentrations in Gr.91 in relation to these critical temperatures and the mole fraction of M 23 C 6 , MX, and Z-Phase as critical secondary phases. Here, the results indicate that increasing V and Nb will increase MX stability, whereas decreasing Cr and N lead to a decrease in Z-Phase and M 23 C 6 stability, which may lead to an increased creep resistance of the material. Upon further analyzing the V, Nb, and N concentrations in Gr.91, results indicate that increasing Nb content in the steel can lead to an increased stability of Nb-rich MX2 carbide which can be used to replace Z-Phase in low N steels. Simulation results indicate that elimination of N with a dramatic increase in Nb concentrations result in the stability increase of only M 23 C 6 and MX2 phases at temperature regions between 600 °C and 1370 °C and a complete removal of Z-Phase precipitation. Overall, with the elimination of N, which destabilizes Z-Phase precipitation, and an increase in Nb for NbC carbide stability, a possible solution to increasing both long-term and short-term creep resistance for Gr.91 can be achieved, though further optimization and creep experiments need to be conducted for final conclusions.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2025

Stochastic room temperature creep of 316 L stainless steel

The creep behavior of 316 L stainless steel at room temperature was evaluated as a function of time and applied stress using a new high-throughput approach. Several common creep models were evaluated against the observations, leading to deeper analysis of a stress-dependent modified logarithmic creep model. Within this model, multiple sources of uncertainty were compared. Aleatoric stochastic variation between samples under nominally identical conditions was identified as the primary contributor to uncertainty in creep response. Under any particular set of conditions, the sample-to-sample variability in creep strain was as high as a factor of two, highlighting the engineering importance of characterizing large statistical datasets. The model's extrapolation capabilities were assessed by comparing predictions derived from calibration on partial, shorter-duration subsets of the data. In conclusion, these findings underscore the importance of accounting for stochastic effects in predictive modeling of aging phenomena.

High-throughput↗
DOE OSTI2025

High-temperature nanoindentation creep studies on castable and sintered nanostructured low-activation ferritic-martensitic alloys

In this article, we present the creep characteristics of two reduced activation ferritic-martensitic steels of identical starting compositions formed by different fabrication routes: a nanostructured ferritic alloy commonly referred to as a castable nanostructured alloy (CNA) and a sintered nanostructured alloy (SNA) variant. Through a series of nanoindentation experiments spanning a temperature range of 25 °C to 650 °C, with a maximum load of 100 mN, we find creep behaviors in the cast and sintered materials to be remarkably similar. The creep stress exponent (n) for CNA and SNA were found to be in the range of 8–35 and the activation volume was ∼14–42b 3 , underscoring a dominance of dislocation-mediated mechanisms in both alloys. Notably, we observed a decline in the creep stress exponent with increasing temperature, attributable to the heightened influence of thermally activated dislocations. This phenomenon suggests a potential transition in the deformation mechanism towards a thermally activated dislocation climb process, significantly impacting the observed creep behavior.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2021

Creep properties of advanced austenitic steel 709 determined through short experiments under in-situ neutron diffraction followed by TEM characterization

Here in this study, the creep mechanisms at play in Alloy 709 (Fe-20Cr-25Ni) are investigated by performing short-term creep-type tests under in-situ neutron diffraction experiments. Short tests are performed in the temperature range of 500 to 900 °C under constant load with a load ranging from 50 to 150 MPa. The creep exponent and activation energy are determined using the Bird-Mukherjee-Dorn relation and compared to that obtained from conventional longer creep tests from the literature. Scanning transmission electron microscopy (S/TEM) of the post-creep microstructure indicates that interaction of dislocations with precipitates are a dominant mechanism at play. Furthermore, local elemental mapping indicated chemical segregation at grain boundaries and formation of complex precipitates.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2012

Creep behavior of commercial FeCrAl foils: beneficial and detrimental effect of oxidation

Creep tests were performed at 875 and 1050 C on commercially available FeCrAl foils (~50 m, 2 mil thickness) over a wide range of stress and duration to characterize their creep behavior. The oxide scales formed on the creep specimens were analyzed and compared to those that formed on unstressed specimens to assess the effect of stress and strain on oxide growth mechanisms. Below a specific stress threshold, creep rate and lifetime become independent of the applied load and rupture occurs due to the onset of breakaway oxidation. A creep rate model based on the strengthening of the FeCrAl foils due to load-bearing by the thermally-grown alumina scale was observed to be in good agreement with the experimental results.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2013

Low cycle fatigue and creep-fatigue behavior of Ni-based alloy 230 at 850 C

Strain-controlled low cycle fatigue (LCF) and creep-fatigue testing of Ni-based alloy 230 were carried out at 850 C. The material creep-fatigue life decreased compared with its low cycle fatigue life at the same total strain range. Longer hold time at peak tensile strain further reduced the material creep-fatigue life. Based on the electron backscatter diffraction, a novel material deformation characterization method was applied, which revealed that in low cycle fatigue testing as the total strain range increased, the deformation was segregated to grain boundaries since the test temperature was higher than the material equicohesive temperature and grain boundaries became weaker regions compared with grains. Creep-fatigue tests enhanced the localized deformation, resulting in material interior intergranular cracking, and accelerated material damage. Precipitation in alloy 230 helped slip dispersion, favorable for fatigue property, but grain boundary cellular precipitates formed after material exposure to the elevated temperature had a deleterious effect on the material low cycle fatigue and creep-fatigue property.

Creep-fatigue↗
DOE OSTI2018

In-situ synchrotron X-ray study of microstructural evolution during creep deformation in Grade 91 steel

Here, creep deformation mechanism of Grade 91 steel at 650 °C was investigated in-situ via wide-angle X-ray scattering (WAXS). WAXS peak broadening and a modified Williamson-Hall analysis provided information on evolution of dislocation densities in the primary α–Fe phase, while WAXS peak shifts provided lattice strains in the α–Fe matrix, M 23 C 6 and MX precipitates. Load transfer was not evident during in-situ creep deformation, suggesting that precipitates did not significantly strengthen the matrix during creep deformation. Peak broadening results illustrated an increase in average dislocation density during primary stage creep. After onset of secondary creep, there was a decrease in dislocation density, attributed to annihilation and re-ordering of dislocations in the subgrain structure, followed by a relatively constant average dislocation density with increasing strain.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗