Additive manufacturing is an innovative production approach aimed at creating products that traditionaltechniques cannot produce with the desired quality and requirements. Throughout the additive manufacturing process, data is either used (such as materials properties, printer characteristics and settings)or generated (such as monitoring data during printing, slicing strategies setting parameters). However, managing such data with complex relationships remains a significant challenge in both research andindustry in the additive manufacturing field. To address this issue, we developed a modular ontology that can be used as the basis for a framework that supports decision-making systems, facilitate semantics-aware data management, and enhance the understanding and optimization of additive manufacturingprocesses. In this paper we focus on one of the state-of-the-art additive manufacturing approaches, i.e., powder bed fusion. To show the use and the feasibility of our approach, we created a knowledge graph for an actual additive manufacturing experiment based on our ontology, and show how queries relevant to domain experts can be answered using this knowledge graph.

In this study, Alloy 247LC samples were built with different laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) process parameters. The samples were then subjected to solution heat treatment at 1260 degrees C for 2 h. The grain size of all the samples increased significantly after the heat treatment. The relationship between the process parameters and grain size of the samples was investigated by performing a design of experiment analysis. The results indicated that the laser power was the most significant process parameter that influenced the grain height and aspect ratio. The laser power also significantly influenced the grain width. The as-built and as-built + heat-treated samples with high, medium, and low energy densities were characterized using a field emission gun scanning electron microscope equipped with an electron backscatter diffraction detector. The micrographs revealed that the cells present in the as-built samples disappeared after the heat treatment. Isolated cases of twinning were observed in the grains of the as-built + heat-treated samples. The disappearance of cells, increase in the grain size, and appearance of twins suggested that recrystallization occurred in the alloy after the heat treatment. The occurrence of recrystallization was confirmed by analyzing the grain orientation spread of the alloy, which was lower and more predominantly <1 degrees in the as-built + heat-treated conditions than in the as-built conditions. The microhardness of the as-built + heat-treated samples were high which was plausible because gamma precipitates were observed in the samples. However, the L-PBF process parameters had a very low correlation with the microhardness of the as-built + heat-treated samples.

The aim of this article is to predict the failure load in resistance spot welded aluminum 661-T6 sheets with 2 mm thickness under quasi-static tensile test. Various welding parameters, e.g. welding current, welding time and electrode force are selected to produce welded joints with different quality. The results show that for all the samples in this study only interfacial failure mode was observed in tensile-shear test and no pull-out mode was observed. According to the failure mode, an empirical equation was used for the prediction of failure load based on nugget size and hardness of failure line. Microstructure study has been carried out to investigate microstructural changes in the welded joints. For determination of the minimum hardness, microhardness tests have been carried out to find hardness profiles. The minimum hardness value was observed for a thin layer around the nugget with large and coarse grains. The results show that by using the presented empirical equation, the failure can be predicted with a good agreement only by measuring nugget size.                   .

Traditionally, the development and optimization of the machining process with regards to the subsurface deformation are done through experimental method which is often expensive and time consuming. This article presents the development of a finite element model based on an updated Lagrangian formulation. The numerical model is able to predict the depth of subsurface deformation induced in the high- speed machining of Inconel 718 by use of a whisker-reinforced ceramic tool. The effect that the different cutting parameters and tool microgeometries has on subsurface deformation will be investigated both numerically and experimentally. This research article also addresses the temperature distribution in the workpiece and the connection it could have on the wear of the cutting tool. The correlation of the numerical and experimental investigations for the subsurface deformation has been measured by the use of the coefficient of determination, R-2. This confirms that the finite element model developed here is able to simulate this type of machining process with sufficient accuracy.

To account for or neglect the defect position, i.e. the fatigue initiating defect location, both radially and axially, is evaluated for hourglass-shaped ultrasonic fatigue specimen. The commonly used analytical equations to calculate the stress is compared against a finite element (FE) based approach, which is able to fully considering the stress state at the defect position. Notably, the effects on several common fatigue analyses are evaluated: the fatigue strength distribution, the stress-life and the stress-defect relationships. Fracture mechanical assessment is also performed, for a comprehensive VHCF characterization of the EN-GJS-500-7 ductile cast iron used in the study. The VHCF properties are characterized up to 3 & sdot; 108 8 cycles, using the Step-Stress fatigue testing method under fully reversed loading. The FE-model and Weibull distribution as the choice of fatigue strength distribution, enables size effect evaluation by Weakest-link effective volume with the highly stressed volume method as benchmark. The work shows that it is imperative to use the local stress state at the defect position, as the distribution of failures can diverge largely from the center of the specimen, and that neglecting this causes systematic error and flawed potentially results.

A general testing and analysis framework for the Step-Stress fatigue testing method is identified, utilizing interval-censored data and maximum likelihood estimation in an effort to improve estimation of fatigue strength distribution parameters has been performed. The Step-Stress methods limitations are characterized, using a simple material model that considers cumulative damage to evaluate load history effects. In this way, the performance including cumulative damage was evaluated and quantified using a probabilistic approach with Monte-Carlo simulations, benchmarked against the Staircase method throughout the work. It was found that the Step-Stress method, even when cumulative damage occurs to a wide extent, outperforms the Staircase method, especially for small sample sizes. Furthermore, positive results reaches further than the increase performance in estimating fatigue strength distribution parameters, where improvements in secondary information, i.e. S-N data gained from failure specimens, are shown to be distributed more closely to the fatigue life region of interest.

This paper presents a detailed study on the effect of an industrial blast cleaning process on the fatigue behavior of a grey cast iron with regard to the residual stresses and microstructural changes induced by the process. A comparison was also made to the effect of a machining operation which removed the casting skin layer. The blast cleaning process was found to greatly improve the fatigue resistance in both the low and high cycle regimes with a 75% increase in the fatigue limit. Xray diffraction measurements and scanning electron microscopic analyses showed that the improvement was mainly attributed to compressive residual stresses in a surface layer up to 800 μm in thickness in the blast cleaned specimens. The machining also gave better fatigue performance with a 30% increase in the fatigue limit, which was ascribed to the removal of the weaker casting skin layer.

Poor wettability and weak graphene/Cu interface limit the mechanical properties' enhancement in graphene/Cu composites. This study devised an interface enhancement approach by Ag decoration of graphene nanoplatelets (Ag-GNPs) and Ag decorated nitrogen doped graphene (Ag-N-GNP) without oxide (during decoration) and carbide (during sintering) formation. Sonication was used to functionalize GNPs for decoration with Ag nanoparticles (NPs) and Cu composites (Ag-GNP/Cu and Ag-N-GNP/Cu) were fabricated using cold pressing (low-pressure) and sintering. 2-Ag-GNP/Cu (2 vol% of Ag-GNPs) and 2Ag-N-GNP/Cu (2 vol% of Ag-N-GNPs) possessed highest sintered density. In addition, 2-Ag-GNP/Cu and 1-Ag-N-GNP/Cu showed highest microhardness and tensile strength (theoretical), respectively. Higher concentration of Ag NPs on GNPs in Ag-N-GNP (oxygen and nitrogen functionalization) showed lower mechanical properties for Ag-N-GNP/Cu compared to Ag-GNP/Cu with limited Ag NPs on GNPs (oxygen functionalization). Interface modification strategy with noble metal NPs bridging between GNP and Cu suggests controlled functionalization and noble metal NPs' attachment on GNPs for effective mechanical properties' enhancement in graphene Cu composites. (c) 2024 The Society of Powder Technology Japan. Published by Elsevier BV and The Society of Powder Technology Japan. All rights are reserved, including those for text and data mining, AI training, and similar technologies.

The increased use of renewable energy pushes steam turbines toward a more frequent operation schedule. Consequently, components must endure more severe fatigue loads which, in turn, requires an understanding of the deformation and damage mechanisms under high-temperature cyclic loading. Based on this, low cycle fatigue tests were performed on a creep resistant steel, FB2, used in ultra-supercritical steam turbines. The fatigue tests were performed in strain control with 0.8-1.2 % strain range and at temperatures of 400 °C and 600 °C. The tests at 600 °C were run with and without dwell time. The deformation mechanisms at different temperatures and strain ranges were characterised by scanning electron microscopy and by quantifying the amount of low angle grain boundaries. The quantification of low angle grain boundaries was done by electron backscatter diffraction. Microscopy revealed that specimens subjected to 600 °C showed signs of creep damage, in the form of voids close to fracture surface, regardless of whether the specimen had been exposed to dwell time or been purely cycled. In addition, the amount of low angle grain boundaries was lower at 600 °C than at 400 °C. The study indicates that a significant amount of the inelastic strain comes from creep strain as opposed to being all plastic strain.

Materials in steam turbine rotors are subjected to cyclic loads at high temperature, causing cracks to initiate and grow. To allow for more flexible operation, accurate fatigue models for life prediction must not be overly conservative. In this study, fully reversed low cycle fatigue tests were performed on a turbine rotor steel called FB2. The tests were done isothermally, within temperature range of room temperature to 600 °C, under strain control with 0.8-1.2 % total strain range. Some tests included hold time to calibrate the short-time creep behaviour of the material. Different fatigue life models were constructed. The life curve in terms of stress amplitude was found unusable at 600 °C, while the life curve in terms of total strain or inelastic strain amplitudes displayed inconsistent behaviour at 500 °C. To construct better life model, the inelastic strain amplitudes were separated into plastic and creep components by modelling the deformation behaviour of the material, including creep. Based on strain range partitioning approach, the fatigue life depends on different damage mechanisms at different strain ranges. This allowed the formulation of life curves based on plasticity or creep domination, which showed creep domination at 600 °C, while at 500 °C, creep only dominates for higher strain range.

Materials made for modern steam power plants are required to withstand high temperatures and flexible operational schedule. Mainly to achieve high efficiency and longer components life. Nevertheless, materials under such conditions experience crack initiations and propagations. Thus, life prediction must be made using accurate fatigue models to allow flexible operation. In this study, fully reversed isothermal low cycle fatigue tests were performed on a turbine rotor steel called FB2. The tests were done under strain control with different total strain ranges and temperatures (20 °C to 625 °C). Some tests included dwell time to calibrate the short-time creep behaviour of the material. Different fatigue life models were evaluated based on total life approach. The stress-based fatigue life model was found unusable at 600 °C, while the strain-based models in terms of total strain or inelastic strain amplitudes displayed inconsistent behaviour at 500 °C. To construct better life prediction, the inelastic strain amplitudes were separated into plastic and creep components by modelling the deformation behaviour of the material, including creep. Based on strain range partitioning approach, the fatigue life depends on different damage mechanisms at different strain ranges at 500 °C. This allows for the formulation of life curves based on either plasticity-dominated damage or creep-dominated damage. At 600 °C, creep dominated while at 500 °C creep only dominates for higher strain ranges. The deformation mechanisms at different temperatures and total strain ranges were characterised by scanning electron microscopy and by quantifying the amount of low angle grain boundaries. The quantification of low angle grain boundaries was done by electron backscatter diffraction. Microscopy revealed that specimens subjected to 600 °C showed signs of creep damage in the form of voids close to the fracture surface. In addition, the amount of low angle grain boundaries seems to decrease with the increase in temperature even though the inelastic strain amplitude was increased. The study indicates that a significant amount of the inelastic strain comes from creep strain as opposed of being all plastic strain, which need to be taken into consideration when constructing a life prediction model.

Exploring crack growth behaviour is needed to establish accurate fatigue life predictions. Cracked specimens were tested under strain-controlled out-of-phase thermomechanical fatigue conditions. The tests included dwell times and three different minimum temperatures. Higher minimum temperature gave faster crack growth rates while the additions of dwell times showed no effects. Crack closure was observed in all the tests where the addition of dwell times and change in minimum temperature displayed little to no effect on crack closure stresses. Finite element models with a sharp stationary crack and material parameters switching provided acceptable predictions for the maximum, minimum, and crack closure stresses.

In warm pre-stressing (WPS), the fracture resistance of cracked steel components is raised when subjected to certain temperature-load histories. WPS’s beneficial effects enhance safety margins and potentially prolong fatigue life. However, understanding and predicting the WPS effects is crucial for employing such benefits. This study utilised pre-cracked compact tension specimens made from steam turbine steel for WPS and baseline fracture toughness testing. Two typical WPS cycles were investigated (L-C-F and L-U-C-F), and an increase in fracture resistance was observed for both cycles. The WPS tests were simulated using finite element analysis to understand its effects and predict the increase in fracture resistance. A local approach was followed based on accumulative plastic strain magnitude ahead of the crack tip. Since cleavage fracture is triggered by active plasticity, the WPS fracture is assumed when accumulated plasticity exceeds the residual plastic zone formed at the crack tip due to the initial pre-load.

Understanding of crack growth behaviour is necessary to predict accurate fatigue lives. Out-of-phase thermomechanical fatigue crack propagation tests were performed on FB2 steel used in high-temperature steam turbine sections. Testing results showed crack closure where the compressive part of the fatigue cycle affected crack growth rate. Crack closing stress was observed to be different, and had more influence on the growth rate, than crack opening stress. Crack growth rate was largely controlled by the minimum temperature of the cycle, which agreed with an isothermal crack propagation test. Finite element models with stationary sharp cracks captured the crack closure behaviour.

Additive manufacturing of Alloy 718 has become a popular subject of research in recent years. Understanding the process-microstructure-property relationship of additively manufactured Alloy 718 is crucial for maturing the technology to manufacture critical components. Fatigue behaviour is a key mechanical property that is required in applications such as gas turbines. Therefore, in the present work, low cycle fatigue behaviour of Alloy 718 manufactured by laser beam powder bed fusion process has been investigated. The material was tested in as-built condition as well as after two different thermal post-treatments. Three orientations with respect to the building direction were tested to evaluate the anisotropy. Testing was performed at room temperature under controlled amplitudes of strain. It was found that defects, inclusions, strengthening precipitates, and Youngs modulus influence the fatigue behaviour under strain-controlled conditions. The strengthening precipitates affected the deformation mechanism as well as the cycle-dependent hardening/softening behaviour. The defects and the inclusions had a detrimental effect on fatigue life. The presence of Laves phase in LB-PBF Alloy 718 did not have a detrimental effect on fatigue life. Youngs modulus was anisotropic and it contributed to the anisotropy in strain-life relationship. Pseudo-elastic stress vs. fatigue life approach could be used to handle the modulus-induced anisotropy in the strain-life relationship.

A study of the microstructure of additively manufactured Alloy 718 was performed in order to better understand the parameters that have an influence on the fatigue properties of the material. The specimens were manufactured using two powder bed fusion techniques - Electron Beam Melting (EBM) and Selective Laser Melting (SLM). Four point bending fatigue tests were performed at room temperature with a stress ratio of R = 0.1 and 20 Hz frequency, on material that was either in hot isostatically pressed (HIP) and solution treated and aged (STA) condition or in STA condition without a prior HIP treatment. The grains in the SLM material in the HIP + STA condition have grown considerably both in the hatch and the contour regions; EBM material, in contrast, shows grain growth only in the contour region. Fractographic analysis of the specimens in HIP + STA condition showed a faceted appearance while the specimens in STA condition showed a more planar crack appearance. The crack propagation occurred in a transgranular mode and it was found that precipitates such as NbC, TiN or 8-phase, when present, did not affect the crack path. The areas with larger grains corresponded to the faceted appearance of the fracture surface. This could be attributed to the plastic zone ahead of the crack tip being confined within one grain, in case of the larger grains, which promotes single shear crack growth mode.

Electron beam melting (EBM) and Selective Laser Melting (SLM) are powder bed based additive manufacturing (AM) processes. These, relatively new, processes offer advantages such as near net shaping, manufacturing complex geometries with a design space that was previously not accessible with conventional manufacturing processes, part consolidation to reduce number of assemblies, shorter time to market etc. The aerospace and gas turbine industries have shown interest in the EBM and the SLM processes to enable topology-optimized designs, parts with lattice structures and part consolidation. However, to realize such advantages, factors affecting the mechanical properties must be well understood - especially the fatigue properties. In the context of fatigue performance, apart from the effect of different phases in the material, the effect of defects in terms of both the amount and distribution and the effect of "rough" as-built surface must be studied in detail. Fatigue properties of Alloy 718, a Ni-Fe based superalloy widely used in the aerospace engines is investigated in this study. Four point bending fatigue tests have been performed at 20 Hz in room temperature at different stress ranges to compare the performance of the EBM and the SLM material to the wrought material. The experiment aims to assess the differences in fatigue properties between the two powder bed AM processes as well as assess the effect of two post-treatment methods namely - machining and hot isostatic pressing (HIP). Fractography and metallography have been performed to explain the observed properties. Both HIPing and machining improve the fatigue performance; however, a large scatter is observed for machined specimens. Fatigue properties of SLM material approach that of wrought material while in EBM material defects severely affect the fatigue life.

In this study, Alloy 718 specimens manufactured by Electron Beam Powder Bed Fusion process are subjected to two different post-treatments to have different microstructural features. Low cycle fatigue testing has been performed both parallel and transverse to the build direction. EB-PBF Alloy 718 exhibits anisotropic fatigue behaviour; the fatigue life is better along the parallel direction compared to the transverse direction. The anisotropy in fatigue life is related to the anisotropy in the Youngs modulus. The pseudo-elastic stress vs. fatigue life approach is presented as a potential solution to handle anisotropy in fatigue life assessment of additively manufactured engineering components.

Alloy 718 finds application in gas turbine engine components, such as turbine disks, compressor blades and so forth, due to its excellent mechanical and corrosion properties at elevated temperatures. Electron beam melting (EBM) is a recent addition to the list of additive manufacturing processes and has shown the capability to produce components with unique microstructural features. In this work, Alloy 718 specimens were manufactured using the EBM process with a single batch of virgin plasma atomized powder. One set of as-built specimens was subjected to solution treatment and ageing (STA); another set of as-built specimens was subjected to hot isostatic pressing (HIP), followed by STA (and referred to as HIP+STA). Microstructural analysis of as-built specimens, STA specimens and HIP+STA specimens was carried out using optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. Typical columnar microstructure, which is a characteristic of the EBM manufactured alloy, was observed. Hardness evaluation of the as-built, STA and HIP+STA specimens showed that the post-treatments led to an increase in hardness in the range of similar to 50 HV1. Tensile properties of the three material conditions (as-built, STA and HIP+STA) were evaluated. Post-treatments lead to an increase in the yield strength (YS) and the ultimate tensile strength (UTS). HIP+STA led to improved elongation compared to STA due to the closure of defects but YS and UTS were comparable for the two post-treatment conditions. Fractographic analysis of the tensile tested specimens showed that the closure of shrinkage porosity and the partial healing of lack of fusion (LoF) defects were responsible for improved properties. Fatigue properties were evaluated in both STA and HIP+STA conditions. In addition, three surface conditions were also investigated, namely the raw as-built surface, the machined surface with the contour region and the machined surface without the contour region. Machining off the contour region completely together with HIP+STA led to significant improvement in fatigue performance.

An elasto-viscoplastic thermodynamically consistent constitutive model for diffusion-assisted phase transformations is presented here. The model accounts for the different deformation mechanisms, their time dependence, the crystal rotations produced by microtwin propagation and the chemistry-plasticity coupling occurring at high temperature. It is applied to the study of the chemically assisted microtwinning observed in Ni-based superalloys in the temperature range of 600-800 degrees C. The model parameters are calibrated against multi-directional mechanical data from tensile creep tests of single crystal superalloy MD2. The constitutive model is then implemented into a crystal plasticity finite element code to study the activation of the different deformation mechanisms within single crystal and polycrystalline aggregates. Doing so, a relation between the rotations of the crystal and the creep life of the different crystal orientations is established. The results eventually reveal the critical role of the strong anisotropy of microtwin formation on the asymmetric behavior of the alloy and its relevant role on the mechanical performance.

This study aims to use beeswax, a readily available and cost-effective organic material, as a novel phase change material (PCM) within blends of low-density polyethylene (LDPE) and styrene-b-(ethylene-co-butylene)-b-styrene (SEBS). LDPE and SEBS act as support materials to prevent beeswax leakage. The physicochemical properties of new blended phase change materials (B-PCM) were determined using an X-ray diffractometer and an infrared spectrometer, confirming the absence of a chemical reaction within the materials. A scanning electron microscope was used for microstructural analysis, indicating that the interconnection of the structure allowed better thermal conductivity. Thermal gravimetric analysis revealed enhanced thermal stability for the B-PCM when combined with SEBS, especially within its operating temperature range. Analysis of phase change temperature and latent heat with differential scanning calorimetry showed no major difference in the melting point of the various PCM blends created. During the melting/solidification process, the B-PCMs possess excellent performance as characterized by W70/P30 (112.45 J.g−1) > W70/P20/S10 (94.28 J.g−1) > W70/P10/S20 (96.21 J.g−1) of latent heat storage. Additionally, the blends tend to reduce supercooling compared to pure beeswax. During heating and cooling cycles, the B-PCM exhibited minimal leakage and degradation, especially in blends containing SEBS. In comparison to the rapid temperature drop observed during the cooling process of W70/P30, the temperature decline of W70/P30 was slower and longer, as demonstrated by infrared thermography. The addition of LDPE to the PCM reduced melting time, indicating an improvement in the thermal energy storage reaction time to the demand. According to the obtained findings, increasing the SEBS concentration in the composite increased the thermal stability of the resulting PCM blends significantly. Despite the challenges mentioned earlier, SEBS proved to be an effective encapsulating material for beeswax, whereas LDPE served well as a supporting material. Leak tests were performed to find the ideal mass ratio, and weight loss was analyzed after multiple cycles of cooling and heating at 70 °C. The morphology, thermal characteristics, and chemical composition of the beeswax/LDPE/SEBS composite were all examined. Beeswax proves to be a highly effective phase change material for storing thermal energy within LDPE/SEBS blends.

One of the main purposes of water atomisation is to keep the powder size distribution within a close range. The process is difficult to monitor and thus the state of today's process control is poor. To investigate this process, both a laboratory scale and an industrial scale atomisation facility were modelled where melt flow and thermal flow were investigated. The results showed that metal temperature is important if stable particle sizes are to be obtained from batch to batch.

Sanicro 25 material is approved for use in pressure vessels and boilers according AMSE code case 2752, 2753 and VdTuN blatt 555. It shows good resistance to steam oxidation and flue gas corrosion, and has higher creep rupture strength than any other austenitic stainless steels available today. It is a candidate material for superheater and reheaters, enabling higher steam parameters of up to about 650 degrees C steam (ie about max 700 degrees C metal) without the need for expensive nickel based alloys. The effect of cold-forming on time and temperature-dependent deformation and strength behavior has been examined in a comprehensive study. The objective was to determine the maximum allowable degree of cold-forming to be used without additional heat treatment. The findings of these investigations indicate that the maximum allowed cold deformation could be possible to increase from todays maximum 20 % (VdTuV 555), 15 % (540-675 degrees C) and 10 % (higher than 675 degrees C) respectively (ASME 2011a Sect I PG19). A solution annealing after the cold bending will recover creep ductility but will also at the same time increase manufacturing costs. Higher allowed degree of cold-forming without the need for post bend heat treatments, would allow for more narrow bending radii and thereby a more compact construction that would result in a significant decrease in production costs. This paper presents the findings in the mentioned study and is to be a background for possible coming discussions with involved entities on a revision of the max allowed deformation of this material without the need for solution annealing.

A start-up of a gas turbine means that stress and forces are put on the machine. A start-up in cold climate conditions means that the forces are more critical since the material in the machine becomes more brittle. At a certain temperature the material is utilized to its limits (with appropriate margins applied) and for the SGT-600 ambient temperatures below -30°C (-22°F) become critical. In earlier installations in an arctic climate, an electric pre- heater has been utilized to prevent the critical components from becoming too brittle. This additional hardware costs money, is consuming auxiliary power and may contribute to unavailability. Another way to solve this issue may be to install material that is less brittle, but this will also increase the cost of the installation. Siemens is now applying an improved control logic during start-up, solving this issue in the software, without any additional hardware and avoiding unnecessary material changes. This new innovative start-up procedure is performing an automatic check of the stress levels before loading the machine, resulting in a safe and reliable start at temperatures below -30°C (-22°F). 

Additive Manufacturing, or 3D printing, provides an opportunity to manufacture advanced 3D geometrieswith little material waste and reduced need for tooling compared to conventional methods. There are,however, challenges remaining regarding anisotropy in the mechanical properties of built components.

The aim of this project is to investigate the anisotropy of additive manufactured material and the effect ofdifferent build directions. The material used is Inconel 718, which was manufactured by Electron BeamMelting as vertical and horizontal rods. The tests performed are microstructural investigations about thegrains, precipitates and porosities, but also include hardness testing and tensile testing. The material istested in its as-built state.

The results show that the material consist of an anisotropic microstructure with elongated grains in thebuild direction. The build height has a bigger influence on the properties of the material than the builddirection for the specimens. The top pieces are consistently different from the others and are the leasthomogeneous. The microstructure consists of large quantities of delta-phase, and solidification pores arefound throughout the material. The hardness of the material differs from 324 HV to 408 HV depending onthe part of the build. The tensile testing shows that the vertically built specimens have a higher yieldstrength and ultimate tensile strength while the horizontally built specimens have a greater ductility.

Selective laser melting (SLM), or, as the industry standard denotes the process, laser sintering, is an additive manufacturing process where metal powder is melted by a laser source layer-wise, forming a solid, dense metallic component. With the SLM process, near net shape components can be manufactured directly from a CAD model. The model is sliced into thin (max 100μm thick) layers. Powder is spread onto a metallic build platform and the powder is fused by a laser as dictated by the CAD model. The laser energy is intense enough to permit full melting (welding) of the particles to form solid metal. The process is repeated layer by layer until the part is complete.

A number of materials are available, including steel, aluminium, titanium and, in recent time, also superalloys. The material investigated in the current project is an alloy in agreement with the composition of Haynes International Hastelloy X, a solution strengthened superalloy typically used in large welded components exposed to high temperatures in oxidizing as well as reducing environments.

Microstructurally, the material is different from both a hot-rolled, as well as a cast material due to the manufacturing process. Since the SLM process involves laser melting of powder particles in the size range of <50μm, the structure resembles of a weld structure, however on a smaller scale. Due to the layer-by-layer build strategy, the material will exhibit anisotropy. Different heat treatment approaches can be adopted in order to homogenize the material and to minimize the effect of anisotropy. A stress relieve heat treatment was adopted and compared to the findings of the as manufactured SLM material.

The current project focuses on evaluating mechanical properties for a material manufactured by the SLM process and comparing to data for established manufacturing processes. For evaluation of the mechanical properties, low cycle fatigue testing and tensile testing has been performed. The microstructure and material deformation / cracking are evaluated by light optical microscopy and SEM, where electron backscatter diffraction is used. Due to the weld-like structure, the material will be transversely isotropic in the as-manufactured condition with one symmetry plane perpendicular to the build direction. Any direction perpendicular to the build direction tends to give increased strength compared to a direction parallel to the build direction if monotonic data are concerned. If fatigue properties are concerned, the anisotropy is also obvious. It is shown that the differences in behaviour can be coupled to microstructure.

A thermal barrier coating (TBC) system subjected to thermal cycling will develop a microcrack partem near the interface between the metallic bond coat and the ceramic top coat. These small cracks link up and form internal TBC delaminations during repeated heating / cooling. After a longer time period, the internal delamination cracks will form a larger spallation damage, where the TBC is detached from the underlying material. Since cracks are initiated in multiple sites of the thermal barrier coating, the damage is initially considered to be governed by local stress conditions. The purpose of the present work is to compare experimental data with predictions of a physically based fatigue life model. The present study has been performed on plasma-sprayed TBCs where the interface geometry has been varied. In the present work, calculation of fatigue life is done for a number of cases under thermal fatigue loading. Different interface geometries are compared in order to understand the influence of variations in the TC/BC interface roughness on oxidation behaviour and thermal fatigue life. Thermal fatigue tests indicate that an increased surface roughness is beneficial from a fatigue life point of view.

Single-crystal nickel-base superalloys frequently experience two distinct fatigue crack growth modes. It has been observed that, under certain conditions, cracks transition from a path perpendicular to the loading direction to a crystallographic slip plane. As crystallographic cracking is associated with an increased fatigue crack growth rate, it is important to be able to predict when this transition occurs. In this work three different criteria for crystallographic cracking based on resolved anisotropic stress intensity factors are evaluated in a three-dimensional finite element context. The criteria were calibrated and evaluated using isothermal fatigue experiments on two different specimen geometries. It is suggested by the results, that a threshold value of a resolved shear stress intensity factor can act as a conservative criterion indicating cracking mode transition. Further, a trend hinting towards a loading frequency dependency could be observed.

In this paper, the possibility to use linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM), with and without a superimposed residual stress field, to predict fatigue crack propagation in the gas turbine disk material Inconel 718 has been studied. A temperature of 400 degrees C and applied strain ranges corresponding to component near conditions have been considered. A three-dimensional crack propagation software was used for determining the stress intensity factors (SIFs) along the crack path. In the first approach, a linear elastic material behavior was used when analyzing the material response. The second approach extracts the residual stresses from an uncracked model with perfectly plastic material behavior after one loading cycle. As a benchmark, the investigated methods are compared to experimental tests, where the cyclic lifetimes were calculated by an integration of Paris law. When comparing the results, it can be concluded that the investigated approaches give good results, at least for longer cracks, even though plastic flow was taking place in the specimen. The pure linear elastic simulation overestimates the crack growth for all crack lengths and gives conservative results over all considered crack lengths. Noteworthy with this work is that the 3D-crack propagation could be predicted with the two considered methods in an LEFM context, although plastic flow was present in the specimens during the experiments.

The elastic and plastic anisotropy of the single-crystal materials bring many difficulties in terms of modeling, evaluation and prediction of fatigue crack growth. In this paper a single-crystal material model has been adopted to a finite element-environment, which is paired with a crack growth tool. All simulations are performed in a three-dimensional context. This methodology makes it possible to analyze complex finite element-models, which are more application-near than traditional two-dimensional models. The influence of the crystal orientation, as well as the influence of misalignments of the crystal orientation due to the casting process are investigated. It is shown that both the crystal orientation and the misalignment from the ideal crystal orientation are important for the crack driving force. The realistic maximum limit of 10 degrees misalignment is considered. It can be seen that crack growth behavior is highly influenced by the misalignment. This knowledge is of great interest for the industry in order to evaluate the crack growth in single-crystal components more accurately.

Cracks in single-crystal nickel-base superalloys have been observed to switch cracking mode from Mode I to crystallographic cracking. The crack propagation rate is usually higher on the crystallographic planes compared to Mode I, which is important to account for in crack growth life predictions. In this paper, a method to evaluate the crystallographic fatigue crack growth rate, based on a previously developed crystallographic crack driving force parameter, is presented. The crystallographic crack growth rate was determined by evaluating heat tints on the fracture surfaces of the test specimens from the experiments. Complicated crack geometries including multiple crystallographic crack fronts were modelled in a three dimensional finite element context, The data points of the crystallographic fatigue crack growth rate collapse on a narrow scatter band for the crystallographic cracks indicating a correlation with the previously developed crystallographic crack driving force.

The inherent anisotropy of single-crystal nickel-base superalloys brings many difficulties in terms of modelling, evaluation and prediction of fatigue crack growth. Two models to predict on which crystallographic plane cracking will occur is presented. The models are based on anisotropic stress intensity factors resolved on crystallographic slip planes calculated in a three-dimensional finite-element context. The developed models have been compared to experiments on two different test specimen geometries. The results show that a correct prediction of the crystallographic cracking plane can be achieved. This knowledge is of great interest for the industry and academia to better understand and predict crack growth in single-crystal materials.

Single-crystal nickel-base superalloys are often used in the hot sections of gas turbines due to their good mechanical properties at high temperatures such as enhanced creep resistance. However, the anisotropic material properties of these materials bring many difficulties in terms of modelling and crack growth prediction. Cracks tend to switch cracking mode from Mode I cracking to crystallographic cracking. Crystallographic crack growth is often associated with a decrease in crack propagation life compared to Mode I cracking and this must be taken into account for reliable component lifing. In this paper a method to evaluate the crystallographic crack propagation rate related to a crystallographic crack driving force parameter is presented. The crystallographic crack growth rate is determined by an evaluation of heat tints on the fracture surface of a specimen subjected to fatigue loading. The complicated crack geometry including two crystallographic crack fronts is modelled in a three dimensional finite element context. The crack driving force parameter is determined by calculating anisotropic stress intensity factors along the two crystallographic crack fronts by finite-element simulations and post-processing the data in a fracture mechanics tool that resolves the stress intensity factors on the crystallographic slip planes in the slip directions. The evaluated crack propagation rate shows a good correlation for both considered crystallographic cracks fronts.

Over the years, science parks have developed and improved their processes to offer better support to their tenants and promote the growth of the region in which they are located. Since regional growth is closely associated with groups of talented people, science parks carry out various activities at the company or individual level to attract and recruit talent. In order to understand how such activities have been and are being performed at Mja¨rdevi Science Park in Sweden, the authors highlight and analyse four talent-related cases. Their aim is to identify how talent can be attracted or recruited and to consider the stakeholders, their relationships and their motivations. The results confirm the importance to a science park of being close to a student community and of being connected to an international network with a well-recognized brand.

Global increase in energy consumption and global warming require more energy production but less CO2emission. Increase in efficiency of energy production is an effective way for this purpose. This can be reached by increasing boiler temperature and pressure in a biomass power plant. By increasing material temperature 50°C, the efficiency in biomass power plants can be increased significantly and the CO2emission can be greatly reduced. However, the materials used for future biomass power plants with higher temperature require improved properties. Austenitic stainless steels are used in most biomass power plants. In austenitic stainless steels a phenomenon called dynamic strain aging (DSA), can occur in the operating temperature range for biomass power plants. DSA is an effect of interaction between moving dislocations and solute atoms and occurs during deformation at certain temperatures. An investigation of DSA influences on ductility in austenitic stainless steels and nickel base alloys have been done. Tensile tests at room temperature up to 700°C and scanning electron microscope investigations have been used. Tensile tests revealed that ductility increases with increased temperature for some materials when for others the ductility decreases. This is, probably due to formation of twins. Increased stacking fault energy (SFE) gives increased amount of twins and high nickel content gives a higher SFE. Deformation mechanisms observed in the microstructure are glide bands (or deformations band), twins, dislocation cells and shear bands. Damage due to DSA can probably be related to intersection between glide bands or twins, see figure 6 a). Broken particles and voids are damage mechanisms observed in the microstructure.

The global increase in energy consumption and the global warming from greenhouse gas emission creates the need for more environmental friendly energy production processes. Biomass power plants with higher efficiency could generate more energy but also reduce the emission of greenhouse gases, e.g. CO₂. Biomass is the largest global contributor to renewable energy and offers no net contribution of CO₂ to the atmosphere. One way to increase the efficiency of the power plants is to increase temperature and pressure in the boiler parts of the power plant.

The materials used for the future biomass power plants, with higher temperature and pressure, require improved properties, such as higher yield strength, creep strength and high-temperature corrosion resistance. Austenitic stainless steels and nickel-base alloys have shown good mechanical and chemical properties at the operation temperatures of today’s biomass power plants. However, the performance of austenitic stainless steels at the future elevated temperatures is not fully understood.

The aim of this licentiate thesis is to increase our knowledge about the mechanical performance of austenitic stainless steels at the demanding conditions of the new generation power plants. This is done by using slow strain rate tensile deformation at elevated temperature and long term hightemperature ageing together with impact toughness testing. Microscopy is used to investigate deformation, damage and fracture behaviours during slow deformation and the long term influence of temperature on toughness in the microstructure of these austenitic alloys. Results show that the main deformation mechanisms are planar dislocation deformations, such as planar slip and slip bands. Intergranular fracture may occur due to precipitation in grain boundaries both in tensile deformed and impact toughness tested alloys. The shape and amount of σ-phase precipitates have been found to strongly influence the fracture behaviour of some of the austenitic stainless steels. In addition, ductility is affected differently by temperature depending on alloy tested and dynamic strain ageing may not always lead to a lower ductility.

Advanced heat resistant materials are important to achieve the transition to long term sustainable power generation. The global increase in energy consumption and the global warming from greenhouse gas emissions create the need for more sustainable power generation processes. Biomass-fired power plants with higher efficiency could generate more power but also reduce the emission of greenhouse gases, e.g. CO₂. Biomass offers no net contribution of CO₂ to the atmosphere. To obtain greater efficiency of power plants, one option is to increase the temperature and the pressure in the boiler section of the power plant. This requires improved material properties, such as higher yield strength, creep strength and high-temperature corrosion resistance, as well as structural integrity and safety.

Today, some austenitic stainless steels are design to withstand temperatures up to 650 °C in tough environments. Nickel-based alloys are designed to withstand even higher temperatures. Austenitic stainless steels are more cost effective than nickel-based alloys due to a lower amount of expensive alloying elements. However, the performance of austenitic stainless steels at the elevated temperatures of future operation conditions in biomass-red power plants is not yet fully understood.

This thesis presents research on the influence of long term high-temperature ageing on mechanical properties, the influence of very slow deformation rates at high-temperature on deformation, damage and fracture, and the influence of high-temperature environment and cyclic operation conditions on the material behaviour. Mechanical and thermal testing have been performed followed by subsequent studies of the microstructure, using scanning electron microscopy, to investigate the material behaviours.

Results shows that long term ageing at high temperatures leads to the precipitation of intermetallic phases. These intermetallic phases are brittle at room temperature and become detrimental for the impact toughness of some of the austenitic stainless steels. During slow strain rate tensile deformation at elevated temperature time dependent deformation and recovery mechanisms are pronounced. The creep-fatigue interaction behaviour of an austenitic stainless steel show that dwell time gives shorter life at a lower strain range, but has none or small effect on the life at a higher strain range.

Finally, this research results in an increased knowledge of the structural, mechanical and chemical behaviour as well as a deeper understanding of the deformation, damage and fracture mechanisms that occur in heat resistant austenitic alloys at high-temperature environments. It is believed that in the long term, this can contribute to material development achieving the transition to more sustainable power generation in biomass-red power plants.

Den globala ökningen av energianvändning och sammanhängande ökning i CO₂-utsläpp vid förbränning har skärpt kraven på energileverantörer att i större utsträckning använda hållbara biobränslen samt att höja verkningsgraden på energiomvandlingsprocesserna. Detta kan uppnås genom att höja tryck och temperatur i biomasseldade förbränningspannor. Sådana omställningar leder oftast till nya utmaningar kopplade till materialegenskaper.

I framtiden kommer behovet av reglerkraft att öka för att kompensera för väderbaserade energianläggningar, såsom sol- och vindkraft. Detta leder till att anläggningarna måste stoppas och startas betydlig oftare än nu. Det skapar ett behov av provningsmetoder som tar hänsyn till cykliska mekaniska och temperaturbaserade laster. Tillsammans med att framtidens material måste tåla högre temperaturer och tuffare miljöer, relaterat till bränsleflexibiliteten, innebär detta att befintliga austenitiska rostfria stål måste förbättras. Inte bara genom en ökning av andelen nickel och andra verksamma legeringselement utan även genom att generera ny kunskap om hur de mekaniska egenskaperna påverkas av den tuffare högtemperatursmiljön.

Syftet med detta projekt var att utvärdera mekaniska beteenden relaterade till kombinerad cyklisk och statisk belastning, långtidsåldring samt cyklisk mekanisk och temperaturbelastning vid höga temperaturer. Detta uppnåddes genom att:

1. Utvärdera kryp-utmattningsinteraktion beteendet hos pannmaterial.
2. Utvärdera den strukturella stabiliteten hos de austenitiska rostfria stålen efter långtidsåldring vid hög temperatur.
3. Utvärdera termomekaniska utmattningsegenskaper hos pannmaterial.
4. Utvärdera spänningsrelaxation sprickningsbeteenden hos pannmaterial.

Mekanisk provning enligt ovan har utförts och analyserats vid Linköpings universitet samt Sandvik Materials Technology för att få en ökad förståelse för hur mekaniska egenskaper påverkas av den tuffare högtemperatursmiljön som framtidens biomasseldade pannor utgör. Detta kan användas i materialutveckling samt vidare för att förbättra konstruktionen av framtidens biomasseldade pannor.

Resultaten visade att:

1. De undersökta pannmaterialen uppvisar kryp-utmattningsinteraktion skador och längre cykliskt liv är relaterat till högt krypmotstånd.
2. Austenitiska rostfria stål uppvisar försprödning på grund av intermetalliska utskiljningar efter långtidsåldring vid höga temperaturer.
3. De austenitiska rostfria stålen med högst högtemperaturshållfasthet uppvisade bäst termomekaniska utmattningsegenskaper.
4. Mer metodutveckling och undersökning krävs för att utvärdera spänningsrelaxation sprickningsbeteendet hos pannmaterialen.

Highly alloyed austenitic stainless steels are promising candidates to replace more expansive nickel-based alloys within the energy-producing industry. The present study investigates the deformation mechanisms by microstructural characterisation, mechanical properties and stress-strain response of three commercial austenitic stainless steels and two commercial nickel-based alloys using uniaxial tensile tests at elevated temperatures from 400 C up to 700 C. The materials showed different influence of temperature on ductility, where the ductility at elevated temperatures increased with increasing nickel and solid solution hardening element content. The investigated materials showed planar dislocation driven deformation at elevated temperature. Scanning electron microscopy showed that deformation twins were an active deformation mechanism in austenitic stainless steels during tensile deformation at elevated temperatures up to 700 C.

Sanicro 25 is a newly developed advanced high strength heat resistant austenitic stainless steel. The material shows good resistance to steam oxidation and flue gas corrosion, and has higher creep rupture strength than other austenitic stainless steels available today. It is thus an excellent candidate for superheaters and reheaters for advanced ultra-super critical power plants with efficiency higher than 50 %. This paper provides a study on the creep–fatigue interaction behavior of Sanicro 25 at 700 °C. Two strain ranges, 1 and 2 %, and two dwell times, 10 and 30 min, were used. The influences of dwell time on the cyclic deformation behavior and life has been evaluated. Due to stress relaxation the dwell time causes a larger plastic strain range compared to the tests without dwell time. The results also show that the dwell time leads to a shorter fatigue life for the lower strain range, but has no or small effect on the life for the higher strain range. Fracture investigations show that dwell times result in more intergranular cracking. With the use of the electron channeling contrast imaging technique, the influences of dwell time on the cyclic plastic deformation, precipitation behavior, recovery phenomena and local plasticity exhaustion have also been studied.

As a renewable energy resource, biomass or biomass co-firing in coal-fired power plants with high efficiency are desired which corresponding to elevated temperature and high pressure. An upgrade of the material performance to austenitic stainless steels is therefore required in order to meet the increased demands due to the higher temperature and the more corrosive environment. These materials suffer from creep and fatigue damage during the service. In this study, these behaviours are evaluated using slow strain rate testing (SSRT) with strain rate down to 1*10-6/s at temperature up to 700°C. The influence of temperature and strain rate on strength and ductility in one austenitic stainless steel and one nickel base alloys are investigated. The damage and fracture due to the interaction between moving dislocations and precipitates are studied using electron channelling contrast imaging (ECCI) and electron backscattering diffraction (EBSD). The deformation and damage mechanisms active during SSRT are essentially the same as under creep. The influence of dynamic strain ageing (DSA) phenomena that appears in the tested temperature and strain rate regime is also discussed, DSA is intensified by increased temperature and decreased strain rate.