Fatigue and ratcheting experimental responses of alloy 617 under high temperature multiaxial loading

Nickel based Alloy 617 is one of the leading candidate materials for intermediate heat exchanger (IHX) of the next generation nuclear plant (NGNP). The IHX is anticipated to operate at temperatures between 800-950°C, which is in the creep regime. In addition, system start-ups and shut-downs will induce low cycle fatigue (LCF) damages in the IHX components. Hence, designing IHX using Alloy 617 for NGNP construction will require a detailed understanding of the creep-fatigue and ratcheting responses. In this study, a broad set of multiaxial creep-fatigue and ratcheting experiments are performed and the results are critically evaluated. Experiments are conducted by prescribing multiaxial loading histories in axial and shear directions at 850°C and 950°C with different strain rates and strain amplitudes. Experimental results revealed that the axial strain ratcheting and cyclic hardening/softening responses of Alloy 617 vary significantly with temperature levels, strain rates and strain amplitudes indicating the dependence of creep-fatigue and ratcheting responses on these parameters. This necessitates the incorporation of strain rate and strain amplitude dependence and effect of loading non-proportionality and temperature in the unified constitutive modeling (UCM) for a better prediction of the material behavior. Development of a UCM is underway based on the experimental results developed.