• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.30 no.12 s.255
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• pp.1526-1533
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• 2006

The aim of this research was to confirm the existence of the thermal creep degradation by hydrides of Zr-2.5Nb pressure tube materials. Small punch creep tests were performed to obtain the relationship between a creep displacement and a loading period at $300^{\circ}C$. A creep stress and a creep strain rate were also converted from the previous results. The creep material constants and the creep stress exponents at the different hydride contents were compared. Finally the hydrides of the axial and circumferential section were observed using OM, SEM and TEM. The following conclusions were made: 1) The degradation of the thermal creep by hydrides was existed and it strongly depended on the hydride contents. 2) As the hydride contents were increased, the creep stress exponents (m) were also increased. 3) Even though the hydride was not precipitated in 50 ppm materials at $300^{\circ}C$, the degradation of thermal creep was found. Therefore, it was believed that this phenomenon strongly related to the hydride precipitation at room temperature.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2001.06a
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• pp.511-516
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• 2001

Recently small punch creep testing (or miniature disc bend creep test) has received much attention through European collaborative research projects. This method was considered as a substitute for the conventional creep rupture testing by which the residual creep life is measured from the specimen taken out from serviced components of high temperature plants. It would be beneficial if the material creep properties such as power law creep constants as well as the creep rupture life can be measured from the small punch creep test. In this paper a method of assessing creep constants from the small punch creep testing is proposed. Finite element analyses were performed to investigate evolution of stress and strain rate at the weakest locations of the small punch creep specimen. Elastic-plastic-secondary creep analyses were carried out. The estimation equations for creep constants by the small punch creep testing are proposed based on the finite analysis results. Small punch creep tests were also performed with 9Cr steel and the accuracy of the proposed equation was verified by the experimental results.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2001.11a
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• pp.180-185
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• 2001

In the life assessment for plant structural component, the research on deterioration of toughness and material properties occurred in weldments has been considered as very important problems. In general, the microstructures composed in weldments are hugely classified with weld metal(W.M), fusion line(F.L), heat affected zone(HAZ), and base metal(B.M). It has been reported that the creep characteristics on weldments having variable microstructures could be unpredictably changed. Furthermore, it is also known that HAZ adjacent to F.L exhibits the decreased creep strength compared to those in base or weld metals, and promotes the occurrence of Type III and Type IV cracking due to the growth of grains and the coarsening carbides precipitated in ferritic matrix by welding and PWHT processes. However, the lots of works reported up to date on creep damage in power plant components have been mostly conducted on B.M and the creep properties on a localized microstructures in weldments have not as yet been throughly investigated. In this paper, for various microstructures such as coarse grain HAZ(CGHAZ), W.M and B.M in X20CrMoV121 steel weldment, the small punch-creep(SP-Creep) test using miniaturized specimen(t=0.5mm, 0.25mm) is performed to investigate a possibility for creep characteristics evaluation.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.55-60
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• 2002

For the development of a new creep test technique, the availability of SP-Creep test is discussed for 1Cr-0.5Mo boiler header material. And some results are also compared with those of 2.25Cr- 1Mo steel which widely uses as boiler superheater tube. The results can be summarized as follows. The load exponents(n) obtained by SP-Creep test for 1Cr-0.5Mo steel are decreased with increasing creep temperature and the values are 15.67, 13.89, and 17.13 at 550$^{circ}C$ ,575$^{circ}C$ and 600$^{circ}C$, respectively. The temperature dependence of the load exponent is given by n = 107.19 - 0.1108T. This reason that load exponents show the extensive range of 10∼16 is attributed to the fine carbide such as M$_{23}$C$_{6}$ in lath tempered martensitic structures. At the same creep condition, the secondary creep rate of 1Cr-0.5Mo steel is lower than the 2.25Cr-1Mo steel1 due to the strengthening microstructure composed by normalizing and tempering treatments. Through a SEM observation, it can be summarized that the primary, secondary, and tertiary creep regions of SP-Creep specimen are corresponding to plastic bending, plastic membrane stretching, and plastic instability regions among the deformation behavior of four steps in SP test, respectively.y.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.94-101
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• 2003

The pressure tubes made of cold-worked Zr-2.5Nb alloy are subjected to creep deformation during service period resulting in changes to their geometry such as longitudinal elongation, diameter increase and sagging. To evaluate integrity of them, information on the material creep property of the serviced tubes is essential. As one of the methods with which the creep property is directly measured from the serviced components, small punch(SP) creep testing has been considered as a substitute for the conventional uniaxial creep testing. In this study, applicability of the SP creep testing to Zr-2.5Nb pressure tube alloy was studied particularly by measuring the power law creep constants, A, n. The SP creep test has been successfully applied fur other high temperature materials which have isotropic behavior. Since the Zr-2.5Nb alloy has anisotropic property, applicability of the SP creep testing can be limited. Uniaxial creep tests and small punch creep tests were conducted with Zr-2.5Nb pressure tube alloy along with finite element analyses. Creep constants obtained by each test method are compared. It was argued that the SP creep test result gave results reflecting material properties of both directions. But the equations derived in the previous study for isotropic materials need to be modified. Discussions were made fur future research directions for application of the SP creep testing to Zr-2.5Nb tube alloy.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2001.11a
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• pp.105-110
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• 2001

It has recently been raised main issue how solve the problem of insufficient energy. One of the solution is to increase the thermal efficiency of power generation system. For the purpose of high efficiency, it is necessary to increase the steam temperature and pressure. So, the use of modified $9{\sim}12%Cr$ steel having superior creep rupture strength and oxidation resistance is required to endure such severe environment. The evaluation of creep properties of those heat resistance material is very important to secure the reliability of high temperature and pressure structural components. Since creep properties are determined by microstructural change such as carbide precipitation and coarsening, It is certain that there are some relationship between creep properties and hardness affected by microstructure. In this study, SP-Creep ruptured test for newly developed 9Cr steel being used as boiler valve material was performed, and creep properties of the material were evaluated. Also, hardness test were performed and hardness results were related to the creep properties such as LMP and creep strength to verify the availability of SP-Creep test as creep test method.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.30 no.9 s.252
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• pp.1034-1040
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• 2006

Due to the need of increasing thermal efficiency, supercritical pressure and temperature have been utilized in power plants. It is well known that 9Cr1Mo steel is suitable fer use in power plants operating at supercritical conditions. Therefore, to ensure the safety and the soundness of the power plant, creep characterization of the steel is important. In this study, the creep characterization of the gCr1Mo steel using small punch creep(SP-Creep) test has been described. The applied load and the central displacement of the specimen in SP-Creep test have been converted to bearing stress and strain of uc, respectively. The converted SP-Creep curves clearly showed the typical three-stage behavior of creep. The steady-state creep rate and the rupture time of the steel logarithmically changed with the bearing stress and satisfied the Power law relationship. Furthermore, the Larson-Miller parameter of the SP-Creep test agreed with that of the tensile creep test. From the comparison with low Cr-Mo steels, the creep characteristics of 9Cr1Mo steel proved to be superior. Thus, it can be confirmed that the 9Cr1Mo steel is suitable for supercritical power plant.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.48 no.11
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• pp.965-973
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• 2010

The small punch creep (SPC) test has recently received much attention as a new alternative to the conventional uniaxial creep test because it needs only a miniature-sized specimen directly detached from an operating system or component without any serious sampling damages. However, it is difficult to obtain the equivalent uniaxial creep data directly from the SPC data. As a specimen is deformed by a punch in the SPC test, the test result is sensitive to the friction between them. Finite element analyses with various friction coefficients was performed and showed a tendency of increased SPC life with an increased friction coefficient. The necking position predicted by the SPC simulation with a proper friction coefficient showed good agreement with that observed from the real SPC test. Finally, a noble method to convert the SPC load and displacement rate into the equivalent uniaxial creep stress and strain rate, respectively, was established in this study.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.19-27
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• 2010

This paper investigates the influence of aging time on creep properties via a small punch creep test and evaluates the microstructural change of P122 steel at $600^{\circ}C$. The area fraction of precipitates was quantitatively analyzed to identify the relationship between the creep rupture life and precipitates was coarsening behavior of precipitates along the grain boundaries was also investigated for various aging times. It is found that this coarsening behavior led to a loss of solution hardening and rewulte in a hardness drop and a reduction of creep life.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.49 no.7
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• pp.515-521
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• 2011

Small punch creep testing has received attention due to the convenience of using smaller specimens than those of conventional uniaxial creep tests, which enables creep testing on developing or currently operational components. However, precedent studies have shown that it is necessary to consider friction between the punch and specimen when computing uniaxial equivalent stress from a finite element model. In this study, small punch creep behaviors of AISI 316L stainless steel, which is widely used in high temperature-high pressure machineries, have been compared for the two different ceramic balls such as $Si_3N_4$ and $Al_2O_3$. The optimal range of the friction coefficient is 0.4~0.5 at $650^{\circ}C$ for the best fit between experimental and simulation data of AISI 316 L stainless steel. The higher the friction coefficient, the longer the creep rupture time is. Therefore, the type of ceramic ball used must be specified for standardization of small punch creep testing.