Creep crack growth in phosphorus alloyed oxygen free copper

A model for crack propagation based on creep damage formation has been formulated to interpret the test results. Rupture criteria based on both creep ductility exhaustion and grain boundary cavitation were taken into account. The contribution from the ductility exhaustion to the creep damage dominated at the lower two test temperatures whereas the contribution from grain boundary cavitation at the higher test temperatures. The model can describe the influence of temperature on the observed creep crack propagation. It can also account for the observed cavitation in a qualitative way.