The principal types of elevated-temperature mechanical failure are creep and stress rupture, stress relaxation, low- and high-cycle fatigue, thermal fatigue, tension overload, and combinations of these, as modified by environment. This article briefly reviews the applied aspects of creep-related failures, where the mechanical strength of a material becomes limited by creep rather than by its elastic limit. The majority of information provided is applicable to metallic materials, and only general information regarding creep-related failures of polymeric materials is given. The article also reviews various factors related to creep behavior and associated failures of materials used in high-temperature applications. The complex effects of creep-fatigue interaction, microstructural changes during classical creep, and nondestructive creep damage assessment of metallic materials are also discussed. The article describes the fracture characteristics of stress rupture. Information on various metallurgical instabilities is also provided. The article presents a description of thermal-fatigue cracks, as distinguished from creep-rupture cracks.

Understanding the mechanical properties of aluminum alloys is useful for the designer for choosing the best alloy and establishing appropriate allowable stress values, and for the aluminum producer to control the fabrication processes. This article discusses the nature and significance of mechanical property data and of stress-strain curves detailing the effects of mechanical properties on the design and selection of aluminum alloys. The properties include tensile, compressive, shear, bearing, creep and creep-rupture, fatigue, and fracture resistance properties.

Understanding the mechanical properties of aluminum alloys is useful for the designer for choosing the best alloy and establishing appropriate allowable stress values, and for the aluminum producer to control the fabrication processes. This article discusses the nature and significance of mechanical property data and of stress-strain curves detailing the effects of mechanical properties on the design and selection of aluminum alloys. The properties include tensile, compressive, shear, bearing, creep and creep-rupture, fatigue, and fracture resistance properties.

This datasheet provides information on composition limits, key metallurgy, fabrication characteristics, processing effects on physical, tensile, and creep-rupture properties, and applications of Al-Cu-Mg-Ni alloys 2618 and 2618A. The influence of prolonged holding at elevated temperature on tensile properties and the influence of temperature on compressive yield strength of alloy 2618-T61 hand-forged billets are illustrated.

This article, to develop an understanding of the underlying mechanisms governing deformation at elevated temperatures, discusses the phenomenological effects resulting from temperature-induced thermodynamic and kinetic changes. It describes the deformation behavior of engineering materials using expressions known as constitutive equations that relate the dependence of stress, temperature, and microstructure on deformation. The article reviews the characteristics of creep deformation and mechanisms of creep, such as power-law creep, low temperature creep, power-law breakdown, diffusional creep, twinning during creep deformation, and deformation mechanism maps. It discusses the creep-strengthening mechanisms for most structural engineering components. The article provides a description of the microstructural modeling of creep in engineering alloys.

The overarching goal of life-prediction research is to develop models for the various types of time dependencies in the crack-tip damage accumulation that occur in materials subjected to elevated temperatures. This article focuses on describing the models based on creep, oxidation kinetics, evolution of crack-tip stress fields due to creep, oxygen ingress, and change in the microstructure. It also provides a summary of creep-fatigue modeling approaches.

Compared to cold-formed parts, age-formed parts have lower residual stresses and consequently better stress corrosion resistance. This article addresses the technical issues that arise in the investigations of creep in precipitate-strengthened materials. The issues addressed help in developing alloys and tempers particularly suited for the age-forming process. The different steps involved in the program for predicting the final part shape are discussed. These basic steps involve developing mechanical tests to study creep at low temperatures and low stresses, describing low-temperature creep in terms of a constitutive model, and then using the constitutive model in a process model or finite element analysis to predict the final part shape.

Plastic deformation can occur in metals from various mechanisms, such as slip, twinning, diffusion creep, grain-boundary sliding, grain rotation, and deformation-induced phase transformations. This article emphasizes on the mechanism of slip and twinning under cold working conditions. It discusses the factors on which the structures developed during plastic deformation depend. These factors include crystal structure, amount of deformation, composition, deformation mode, and deformation temperature and rate. The article illustrates the microstructural features that appear after substantial deformation when revealed through metallographic investigation.

The constitutive relations for metalworking include elements of behavior at ambient temperature as well as high-temperature response. This article presents equations for strain hardening and strain-rate-sensitive flow, with alternate sections on empirically determined properties, followed by the models of constitutive behavior. It provides a discussion on creep mechanisms involving dislocation and diffusional flow, such as the Nabarro-Herring creep and the Coble creep. The equations for the several creep rates are also presented. Research on the mechanism of the superplastic flow in fine-grain metals has encompassed many ideas, such as the diffusional creep, dislocation creep with diffusional accommodation at grain boundaries, and concepts of grain-mantle deformation. The article concludes with information on the kinetics of superplastic deformation processes, including low stress behavior, concurrent grain growth, and high stress behavior.

The chemical composition of Kevlar aramid fiber is poly para-phenyleneterephthalamide. Para-aramid fibers belong to a class of materials known as liquid crystalline polymers. This article discusses the manufacture of aramid fibers and the major fiber forms, such as continuous filament yarns, rovings, woven fabrics, discontinuous staple and spun yarns, fabrics, and pulp. Key representative properties of para-aramid fibers are listed in a table. The article reviews the properties of aramid fibers, including tensile modulus, tensile strength, creep and fatigue, compressive properties, toughness, thermal properties, as well as electrical and optical properties. It concludes with a discussion on the environmental behavior of para-aramid fibers.

This article reviews the basic equipment and methods for creep and creep rupture testing. It begins with a discussion on the creep properties, including stress and temperature dependence, as well as of the extrapolation techniques that permit estimation of the long-term creep and rupture strengths of materials. The article describes the different types of equipment for determination of creep characteristics, including test stands, furnaces, and extensometers. It also discusses the different testing methods for creep rupture: constant-load testing and constant-stress testing. The article presents other testing considerations and concludes with information on stress relaxation testing.

This article presents effective stress equations that are based on the von Mises criterion, the Tresca criterion, and the Huddleston criterion. It describes the calculation of effective stresses for different cases: elastic stresses, steady-state creep stresses, stresses in a fully plastic case, and thermal stresses in a tube. The article illustrates the comparison of life predictions by the stress criteria and presents a simple mean diameter hoop stress equation, which is used for designing components. It also provides information on the multiaxial creep ductility of tubular components and multiaxial testing methods.

Studies on mechanical behavior of superplasticity at or above 50" of the melting point lead to the understanding of superplasticity as a creep phenomenon. This article provides a discussion on the four relationships that define the basic deformation characteristics associated with a creep process: the stress and strain rate, strain rate or stress and temperature, strain rate or stress and grain size, and strain contributed by boundary sliding and total strain. The article describes the deformation characteristics and mechanisms of low-stress region, intermediate-stress region, and high-stress region. It also discusses the effect of impurities on superplastic flow and concludes with information on grain growth during testing.

This article presents typical problems encountered in the analysis of experimental creep and creep-rupture data and the possible solutions to these drawbacks. It provides information on planning the test and creep strain/time relationships. The exponential creep equation and the rational polynomial creep equation are discussed. The article also describes the dependence of stress and temperature on equation parameters and explains the lot-centered regression analysis.

Predicting the service life of structural components involves creep-fatigue crack growth (CFCG) testing under pure creep conditions. This article provides a discussion on the loading condition and the type of ductile and brittle material showing creep behavior. It focuses on a description of the experimental method that should be followed in conducting tests of CFCG with various hold times. The article describes the testing conditions, definitions, and the necessary calculations of various crack-tip parameters considered during static and cyclic loading in time-dependent fracture mechanics. The parameters considered for static loading are C*, C(t), C*(t), C*h, Ct, and Cst(t). For cyclic loading, the parameters are delta Jc and (Ct)avg. An overview of life-prediction models is also provided.

This article presents an outline of the physical metallurgical principles that are associated with heat treating of steels. It describes the iron-carbon phase diagram and various types of transformation diagrams, including isothermal transformation diagrams, continuous heating transformation diagrams, and continuous cooling transformation diagrams. The primary design criteria for heat treating of steels this article covers are the minimization of distortion and undesirable residual stresses. The article presents the theoretical and empirical guidelines to understand sources of common heat-treating defects and how they can be controlled. It also presents an example to demonstrate how thermal and transformation-induced strains cause dimensional changes and residual stresses.

This article reviews the basic mechanisms of elevated-temperature behavior and associated design considerations, with an emphasis on metals. It discusses the key concepts of elevated-temperature design. These include plastic instability at elevated temperatures; deformation mechanisms and strain components associated with creep processes; stress and temperature dependence; fracture at elevated temperatures; and environmental effects. The article describes the basic presentation and analysis methods for creep rupture. It provides information on the application of these methods to materials selection and the setting of basic design rules. The article examines the limitations of high-temperature components as well as the alternative design approaches and tests for most high-temperature components.

The key to any successful part development is the proper choice of material, process, and design matched to the part performance requirements. Understanding the true effects of time, temperature, and rate of loading on material performance can make the difference between a successful application and catastrophic failure. This article provides examples of reliable material performance indicators and common practices to avoid failure. Simple tools and techniques for predicting part mechanical performance integrated with manufacturing concerns, such as flow length and cycle time, are demonstrated. The article describes the prediction of mechanical part performance for stiffness, strength/impact, creep/stress relaxation, and fatigue.

The approaches to spectrum life prediction in components can be classified into two types, namely, history-based methods, using the life-fraction rule or other damage rules, and postservice evaluation methods. This article discusses the variables affecting the material crack growth rate behavior and those essential elements in making spectrum crack growth life prediction. It provides information on life assessment for bulk creep damage.

The cracking process occurs slowly over the service life from various crack growth mechanisms such as fatigue, stress-corrosion cracking, creep, and hydrogen-induced cracking. Each of these mechanisms has certain characteristic features that are used in failure analysis to determine the cause of cracking or crack growth. This article discusses the macroscopic and microscopic basis of understanding and modeling fracture resistance of metals. It describes the four major types of failure modes in engineering alloys, namely, dimpled rupture, ductile striation formation, cleavage or quasicleavage, and intergranular failure. Certain fundamental characteristics of fracture observed in precipitation-hardening alloys, ferrous alloys, titanium alloys are also discussed.