Stochastic aspects of evolution of creep damage in austenitic stainless steel

A stochastic model for the creep damage evolution and associated scatter in austenitic stainless steel has been developed in terms of a discontinuous Markov process. The magnitude of damage has been described in the form of a probability distribution function whose evolution in time characterizes the nondeterministic nature of the damage accumulation process. The long-term creep behavior on samples obtained from different locations of a thick walled SS304 LN steel pipe are studied under an identical stress and temperature condition so as to observe the scatter in creep deformation and failure data. Also the occurrences of damage and its accumulation due to creep deformation were evaluated through microstructural assessment using light optical microscope and scanning electron microscope. The validity of the model has been established by repeat data of SS304 LN steel and 316 stainless steel [1].