Hold-time effects on the fatigue life of CuCrZr alloys for fusion applications

The fatigue and creep–fatigue response of copper alloys is of interest due to the cyclic thermal–mechanical loading processes a fusion first wall will experience during operation. Creep–fatigue experiments were performed on a CuCrZr alloy with an overaged heat treatment at room temperature to determine the effects on fatigue life of a 10 s hold period applied at the maximum tension and compression points in the fatigue loading cycle. The hold period produced a reduction in the number of cycles to failure. This reduction was largest at the lowest strain amplitudes and the longest fatigue lives, the region of most interest for component design. Stress relaxation was observed during the hold periods even at room temperature where thermally-activated creep processes are not expected. The large reduction in fatigue life is apparently due to a change in the crack initiation mode from transgranular with no hold period to intergranular with a hold period.