This chapter familiarizes readers with the mechanisms involved in creep and how they are related to fatigue behavior. It explains that what we observe as creep deformation is the gradual displacement of atoms in the direction of an applied stress aided by diffusion, dislocation movement, and grain boundary sliding. It describes these mechanisms in qualitative terms, explaining how they are driven by thermal energy and how they can be analyzed using creep curves and deformation maps. In addition, it examines the types of damage associated with creep, presents a number of creep strain and strain rate equations, explains how to determine creep constants, and reviews the findings of several studies on cyclic loading. It also discusses the development of a novel test that measures the cyclic creep-rupture resistance of materials in tension and compression.

This chapter compares and contrasts the high-temperature behaviors of metals and composites. It describes the use of creep curves and stress-rupture testing along with the underlying mechanisms in creep deformation and elevated-temperature fracture. It also discusses creep-life prediction and related design methods and some of the factors involved in high-temperature fatigue, including creep-fatigue interaction and thermomechanical damage.

Creep occurs in any metal or alloy at a temperature where atoms become sufficiently mobile to allow the time-dependent rearrangement of structure. This chapter begins with a section on creep curves, covering the three distinct stages: primary, secondary, and tertiary. It then provides information on the stress-rupture test used to measure the time it takes for a metal to fail at a given stress at elevated temperature. The major classes of creep mechanism, namely Nabarro-Herring creep and Coble creep, are then covered. The chapter also provides information on three primary modes of elevated fracture, namely, rupture, transgranular fracture, and intergranular fracture. The next section focuses on some of the metallurgical instabilities caused by overaging, intermetallic phase precipitation, and carbide reactions. Subsequent sections address creep life prediction and creep-fatigue interaction and the approaches to design against creep.

This article describes the general aspects of and practical problems of failure analysis of creep, stress relaxation, and yielding for homogeneous polymers. The effect of temperature and strain rate on the relationship between yield point and elastic modulus and the aging effect that polymers often undergo at room temperature are also discussed.

This chapter provides a detailed overview of the creep behavior of metals and how to account for it when determining the remaining service life of components. It begins with a review of creep curves, explaining how they are plotted and what they reveal about the operating history, damage mechanisms, and structural integrity of the test sample. In the sections that follow, it discusses the effects of stress and temperature on creep rate, the difference between diffusional and dislocation creep, and the use of time-temperature-stress parameters for data extrapolation. It explains how to deal with time dependent deformation in design, how to estimate cumulative damage under changing conditions, and how to assess the effect of multiaxial stress based on uniaxial test data. It also includes information on rupture ductility, creep fracture, and creep-crack growth and their effect on component life and performance.

This chapter describes the phenomenological aspects of fatigue and how to assess its effect on the life of components operating in high-temperature environments. It explains how fatigue is measured and expressed and how it is affected by loading conditions (stress cycles, amplitude, and frequency) and factors such as temperature, material defects, component geometry, and processing history. It provides a detailed overview of the damage mechanisms associated with high-cycle and low-cycle fatigue as well as thermal fatigue, creep-fatigue, and fatigue-crack growth. It also demonstrates the use of tools and techniques that have been developed to quantify fatigue-related damage and its effect on the remaining life of components.

This chapter discusses the compositions, mechanical properties, phase structure, stabilization, corrosion resistance, and advantages of austenitic stainless steels. Austenitic alloys are classified and reviewed in three groups: (1) lean alloys, such as 201 and 301, which are generally used when high strength or high formability is the main objective; (2) chromium nickel alloys used for high temperature oxidation resistance; and (3) chromium, molybdenum, nickel, and nitrogen alloys used for applications where corrosion resistance is the main objective.

This chapter discusses the mechanical properties of powder metal stainless steels and the extent to which they can be controlled through appropriate alloying and processing steps. It describes how process-related factors, such as porosity, interstitial content, sintering atmosphere, and heating and cooling profiles, affect strength, ductility, and corrosion resistance. It also provides an extensive amount of property data – including tensile and yield strength, elongation, hardness, and creep and stress rupture measurements as well as fatigue curves – for various grades of powder metal stainless steel.

This chapter examines the phenomena of deformation and fracture in metals, providing readers with an understanding of why it occurs and how it can be prevented. It begins with a detailed review of tension and compression stress-strain curves, explaining how they are produced and what they reveal about the load-carrying characteristics of engineering materials. It then discusses the use of failure criteria and the determination of yielding and fracture limits. It goes on to describe the mechanisms and appearances of brittle and ductile fractures and stress rupture, providing detailed images, diagrams, and explanations. It discusses the various factors that influence strength and ductility, including grain size, loading rate, and temperature. It also provides information on the origin of residual stresses, the concept of toughness, and the damage mechanisms associated with creep and stress rupture, stress corrosion, and hydrogen embrittlement.

This chapter describes the procedures, characteristics, and applications for static hardness test methods. It addresses test methods that are state of the art, commonly used, or that may find increased use due to certain advantages. The methods addressed are Rockwell hardness testing (ISO 6508 and ASTM E 18), Vickers hardness testing (ISO 6507, ASTM E92, and ASTM E384), Brinell hardness testing (ISO 6506 and ASTM E10), and Knoop hardness testing (ISO 4545 and ASTM E284). The chapter also discusses the advantages and disadvantages of these test methods.

This chapter is a compilation of terms and definitions related to component failure analysis.

In a perfect crystalline structure, there is an orderly repetition of the lattice in every direction in space. Real crystals contain a considerable number of imperfections, or defects, that affect their physical, chemical, mechanical, and electronic properties. Defects play an important role in processes such as deformation, annealing, precipitation, diffusion, and sintering. All defects and imperfections can be conveniently classified under four main divisions: point defects, line defects, planar defects, and volume defects. This chapter provides a detailed discussion on the causes, nature, and impact of these defects in metals. It also describes the mechanisms that cause plastic deformation in metals.

This chapter consists of three parts. The first part provides data and guidelines for selecting materials and processing routes. It compares the basic properties of metals, ceramics, and polymers, identifies important measures of performance, and discusses manufacturing processes and their compatibility with specific materials. The chapter then presents general guidelines for selecting lightweight materials, and concludes with a review of lightweight metals, plastics, and composites used in automotive applications.

This chapter discusses different thermal processes applicable to the various alloy groups of stainless steels, namely austenitic, ferritic, martensitic, precipitation hardening, and duplex stainless steels. The processes discussed include soaking, annealing, stress relieving, austenitizing, tempering, aging, and conditioning.

This chapter presents an overview and survey of solder alloy systems. Extensive reference is made to phase diagrams and their interpretation. The chapter describes the effect of metallic impurities on different solders. The chapter concludes with a review of the key characteristics of eutectic alloys and of the factors most effective at depressing the melting point of solders by eutectic alloying.

Diffusion is the movement of atoms through the crystalline lattice. This chapter discusses the two main types of diffusion that can occur in solids: interstitial diffusion and substitutional diffusion. It describes Fick's first and second laws of diffusion, with emphasis on several applications of the latter. The chapter also provides information on the temperature dependence of diffusion, intrinsic diffusion coefficients (Kirkendall effect), and high diffusion paths.

This chapter is a compilation of terms and definitions related to corrosion in the petrochemical industry.

Brazing and soldering jointly represent one of several methods for joining solid materials. This chapter summarizes the principal characteristics of the various joining methods. It then discusses key parameters of brazing including surface energy and tension, wetting and contact angle, fluid flow, filler spreading characteristics, surface roughness of components, dissolution of parent materials, new phase formations, significance of the joint gap, and the strength of metals. The chapter also describes issues in processing aspects that must be considered when designing a joint, and the health, safety, and environmental aspects of brazing.