Creep-fatigue damage assessment by subsequent fatigue straining

A series of creep-fatigue tests has been conducted with Modified 9Cr-1Mo steel at 600 C in a high vacuum environment of 0.1 mPa to assess an accumulation of creep-fatigue damage. In these tests, each test specimen has been subjected to prior creep-fatigue loading followed by subsequent fatigue loading or prior fatigue loading followed by subsequent creep-fatigue loading. A linear summation of cumulative damage of fatigue and creep life fraction was smaller than unity for the former case, and larger than unity for the latter case. Scanning electron microscopic observation showed that in the case of prior creep-fatigue loading, a crack propagated from inclusions around which cavities were observed and its appearance transformed from transgranular to intergranular type with the increase of the number of cycles of prior creep-fatigue loading, while crack mode was predominantly intergranular in the case of prior fatigue loading. It was suggested that in the case of prior creep-fatigue loading, the fatigue life becomes shorter than that predicted by the linear rule due to early initiation of a crack caused from the cavity creation. In the case of prior fatigue loading, the crack propagates different courses in each loading to lead to the life fraction which is larger than unity