Thanks to their excellent mechanical and chemical properties at temperatures up to 1000 °C, nickel-based superalloys are used in critical components in high-temperature applications such as gas turbines and aero engines. One of the most critical components in a gas turbine is the turbine blade, and to improve the creep and fatigue properties of this component, it is sometimes cast in single-crystal form rather than in the more conventional poly-crystalline form. Gas turbines are most commonly used for power generation and the turbine efficiency is highly dependent on the performance of the superalloys.

Today, many gas turbines are used as a complement for renewable energy sources, for example when the wind is not blowing or when the sun is not shining. This means that the turbine runs differently compared to earlier, when it ran for longer time periods with a lower number of start-ups and shut-downs. This new way of running the turbine, with an increased number of start-ups and shut-downs, results in new conditions for critical components, and one way to simulate these conditions is to perform thermomechanical fatigue (TMF) testing in the laboratory. During TMF, both mechanical strain and temperature are cycled at the same time, and one fatigue cycle corresponds to the conditions experienced by the turbine blade during one start-up and shutdown of the turbine engine.

In the work leading to this PhD thesis, TMF testing of single-crystal superalloys was first performed in the laboratory and this was then followed microstructure investigations to study the occurring deformation and damage mechanisms. Specimens with different crystallographic directions have been tested in order to investigate the anisotropic behaviour shown by these materials. Results show a significant orientation dependence during TMF, in which specimens with a low elastic stiffness perform better. However, it is also shown that specimens with a higher number of active slip planes perform better during TMF compared to specimens with less active slip systems. This is because a higher number of active slip systems results in a more widespread deformation and seems to be beneficial for the TMF life. Further, microscopy shows that the deformation during TMF is localised to several deformation bands and that different deformation and damage mechanisms prevail according to in which crystal orientation the material is loaded. Deformation twinning is shown to be a major deformation mechanism during TMF, and the interception of twins seems to trigger recrystallization. This work also studies the effects of alloying a single-crystal superalloy with Si or Re, and results show a significant Si-effect where the TMF life increases by a factor of 2 when Si is added to the alloy.

Finally, this research results in an increased knowledge of the mechanical response as well as a deeper understanding of the deformation and damage mechanisms that occur in single-crystal superalloys during TMF. It is believed that in the long-term, this can contribute to a more efficient and reliable power generation by gas turbines.