Low Cycle Fatigue of Alloy 617 at 850 °C and 950 °C

The low cycle fatigue behavior of Alloy 617 has been evaluated at 850 °C and 950 °C, the temperature range of particular interest for the intermediate heat exchanger on a proposed high-temperature gas-cooled nuclear reactor. Cycles to failure were measured as a function of total strain range and varying strain rate. Results of the current experiments compare well with previous work reported in the literature for a similar range of temperatures and strain rate. The combined data demonstrate a Coffin–Manson relationship, although the slope of the Coffin–Manson fit is close to −1 rather than the typically reported value of −0.5. At 850 °C and a strain rate of 10⁻³ /s Alloy 617 deforms by a plastic flow mechanism in low cycle fatigue and exhibits some cyclic hardening. At 950 °C for strain rates of 10⁻³–10⁻⁵ /s, Alloy 617 deforms by a solute drag creep mechanism during low cycle fatigue and does not show significant cyclic hardening or softening. At this temperature the strain rate has little influence on the cycles to failure for the strain ranges tested.