Citation: KARABELA, A. ... et al., 2011 AbstractOxidation damage, combined with fatigue, is a concern for nickel-based superalloys utilised as disc rotors in high pressure compressor and turbine of aero-engines. A study has been carried out for a nickel-based alloy RR1000, which includes cyclic experiments at selected temperatures (700°C~800°C) and microscopy examination using Focused Ion Beam (FIB). The results suggest that the major mechanism of oxidation damage consists of the formation of surface oxide scales and internal micro-voids and oxide particles beneath the oxide scales, which become more severe with the increase of temperature. Applying a cyclic stress does not change the nature of oxidation damage but tends to enhance the extent of oxidation damage for temperatures at 750°C and 800°C. The influence of cyclic stress on oxidation damage appears to be insignificant at 700°C, indicating a combined effect of cyclic stress and temperature. Further energy dispersive x-ray (EDX) analyses show the enrichment of Cr and Ti, together with lower Ni and Co levels, in the surface oxide scales, suggesting the formation of brittle Cr 2 O 3 , TiO 2 , NiO and Co 3 O 4 oxides on the specimen surface.Penetration of oxygen into the material and associated internal oxidation, which leads to further 2 material embrittlement and associated failure, are evidenced from both secondary ion imaging and EDX analyses.

Advanced microscopy characterisation and numerical modelling have been carried out to investigate oxygen diffusion and crack growth in a nickel-based superalloy under fatigue-oxidation conditions. Penetration of oxygen into the material and the associated internal oxidation, which leads to material embrittlement and failure, have been found from Focused Ion Beam (FIB) examinations. Applied fatigue loading tends to enhance the extent of internal oxidation for temperatures at 750°C and above. Using a submodelling technique, finite element analyses of oxygen penetration at grain level have been carried out to quantify the fatigue-oxidation damage and calibrate the diffusion parameters based on the measurements of maximum depth of internal oxidation. The grain microstructure was considered explicitly in the finite element model, where the grain boundary was taken as the primary path for oxygen diffusion. A sequentially coupled mechanical-diffusion analysis was adopted to account for the effects of deformation on diffusion during fatigue loading, for which the material constitutive behaviour was described by a crystal plasticity model at grain level. Prediction of oxidation-assisted crack growth has also been carried out at elevated temperature from the finite 2 element analyses of oxygen diffusion near a fatigue crack tip. A failure curve for crack growth has been constructed based on the consideration of both oxygen concentration and accumulated inelastic strain near the crack tip. The predictions from the fatigue-oxidation failure curve compared well with the experimental results for triangular and dwell loading waveforms, with significant improvement achieved over those predicted from the viscoplastic model alone.

No abstract