Creep deformation mechanisms in modified 9Cr-1Mo steel

Modified 9Cr-1Mo (Grade 91) steel is currently considered as a candidate material for reactor pressure vessels (RPVs) and reactor internals for the Very High Temperature Reactor (VHTR). The tensile creep behavior of modified 9Cr-1Mo steel (Grade 91) was studied in the temperature range of 873-1023 K and stresses between 35 MPa and 350 MPa. Analysis of creep results yielded stress exponents of ∼9-11 in the higher stress regime and ∼1 in the lower stress regime. The high stress exponent in the power-law creep regime was rationalized by invoking the concept of threshold stress, which represents the lattice diffusion controlled dislocation climb process. Without threshold stress compensation, the activation energy was 510 ± 51 kJ/mol, while after correcting for the threshold stress, the activation energy decreased to 225 ± 24 kJ/mol. This value is close to the activation energy for lattice self-diffusion in α-Fe. Threshold stress calculations were performed for the high stress regime at all test temperatures. The calculated threshold stress showed a strong dependence on temperature. The creep behavior of Grade 91 steel was described by the modified Bird-Mukherjee-Dorn relation. The rate controlling creep deformation mechanism in the high stress regime was identified as the edge dislocation climb with a stress exponent of n = 5. On the other hand, the deformation mechanism in the Newtonian viscous creep regime (n = 1) was identified as the Nabarro-Herring creep.