Investigation and modeling of low cycle fatigue behaviors of two Ni-based superalloys under dwell conditions

The ability to predict fatigue behaviors of turbine-disk-materials under operating conditions is an important aspect of designing a safe turbine engine. Studies of two Ni-based superalloys, powder metallurgy (PM) FGH95 and Cast GH4169, have been undertaken to investigate their low cycle fatigue (LCF) behaviors with different dwell conditions reflecting the fatigue–creep interaction at high temperature of 650 °C. Based on the deformation behaviors obtained by the tests, the effects of dwell on mean stress and shape of hysteretic loop at half life have been analyzed and considered to be introduced in developing a new fatigue model. For the purpose, two groups of parameters are defined in order to introduce the effects of mean stress and shape of hysteretic loop, especially due to their changes caused by dwell. Finally, an energy-based fatigue model is given with modifying of the original energy-type damage parameter. As a comparison, four typical models of LCF are used to model the experimental results, which are the Strain Range Partitioning method (SRP), the Frequency Separation method (FS), the Damage Rate method (DR) and the Ostergren method. The experimental data of LCF of cast and wrought (CW) Rene95, and PM Rene95 from open resources are also used to verify abilities of the newly-developed model. The results show that the model can describe fatigue behaviors well, and the scatter bands are within ±2, even considering the dwell effects. The accuracy and adaptability of predicting LCF life of the model are better than those of the four existing models.