ME251- Lab #333

WSU Fall 20143

Creep Test

X
WSU ID:
Instructor :xxx
Date of Experiment: 10-27-2014
Due Date: 11-3-2014, 11:59 PM
Objective
The objective of this experiment is :

1. To understand the stage that is involved in the creep test.

2. To experimentally obtain the creep curve.
3. To identify the properties of material while subjected to a tensile load.
4. To measure the rate of deformation of the material to stress at a constant temperature.

Apparatus:
1. Creep measurement apparatus
2. Vernier caliper
3. Stopwatch
4. Specimens -

Material: 1045 Steel – threaded head specimen

Theory
Creep is defined as time-dependent plastic deformation (elongation) of the metal at a constant
tensile load. It is also defined as high temperature progressive deformation at constant stress.
"High temperature" is a relative term dependent upon the materials involved. Creep rates are
used in evaluating materials for boilers, gas turbines, jet engines, ovens, or any application that
involves high temperatures under load. Understanding high temperature behavior of metals is
useful in designing failure resistant systems. A creep test can be studied by measuring the
permanent extension, after various time intervals, of test-pieces maintained at a constant
temperature. Measurements of strain are then recorded over a period of time as in Figure 1.
After the initial instantaneous extension, it shows that creep occurs in three stages :

Stage 1 (Primary creep) : This stage occurs at the beginning of the tests, and creep is
mostly transiently, not at a steady rate. Resistance to creep increases until stage 2 (secondary
creep) is reached.

Stage 2 (Secondary creep) : The rate of creep becomes roughly steady. This stage is often
referred to as steady state creep.

Stage 3 (Tertiary creep) : The creep rate begins to accelerate as the cross sectional area of the
specimen decreases due to necking or internal voiding decreases the effective area of the
specimen. If stage 3 is allowed to proceed, fracture will occur.

In many cases, the three parts of the curve are not clearly distinguishable. To obtain a complete
picture of the creep properties of a material, it is necessary to construct creep curves for a range
of stresses over a range of temperature. Such curves as shown in Figure 2 usually show that, as
the applied stress decreased the primary creep is also decreases, secondary creep is prolonged,
and the possible extension during tertiary creep tends to increase
Figure 1:Typical creep curve of 2: Influence of stress and
Figure
strain versus time at constant
Temperature on creep behavior
stress and elevated temperature

Procedures:

1. The original gauge length, thickness and width of the gauge length of the specimen was measured
and recorded in the table.
2. Then, the maximum load that can be stand by the specimen was measured .
3. The force that lower than maximum load of the specimen was used in the creep test.
4. After that, specimen was placed to the creep test machine to obtain the result
5. The force-time graph of creep test been observed on the monitor of the test’s equipment
6. Step 3 until 5 was repeated until the typical creep curve of strain versus time at constant stress was
obtained
7. When the typical creep curve of strain versus time at constant stress was obtained, the machine was
been stopped.
8. The result and graph obtained had been saved and recorded.
9. Analysis had been done.

RESULTS:

Material: 1045 Steel – threaded head specimen

Strain=extension/gauge length
=1.5/10
=0.15 mm/mm
 Modulus of Elasticity=200 GPa

Table I

Specimens number Specimen 1 Load Specimen 2 Load Specimen 3 Load

87N 90 N 93 N

Load, m [kg] 8.869 kg 9.174 kg 9.48 kg

Specimen thickness, h
0.17 mm 0.17 mm 0.17 mm
[mm]
Specimen width of the
gauge length, 10.78 mm 10.78 mm 10.78 mm
d [mm]
Initial gauge length, l0
10 mm 10 mm 10 mm
[mm]

Final gauge length,

14.1 mm 14.1 mm 13.8 mm
l [mm]

Time vs elongation
5

0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4

Time (min)

Figure 2: time vs elongation

Table II
time (s) elongation (mm) Strain
5 1.5 0.15
10 1.6 0.16
15 1.65 0.165
20 1.7 0.17
25 1.75 0.175
30 1.8 0.18
35 2.83 0.283
40 1.85 0.185
45 1.9 0.19
50 1.95 0.195
55 1.97 0.197
60 1.99 0.199
65 2.1 0.21
70 2.3 0.23
75 2.5 0.25
79.2 4 0.4

Discussion:
Time vs elongation
5

0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4

Figure 3:Creep curve graph for 1045 steel.

Threaded specimen
Following the loading strain εο, the creep rate (slope of strain vs time curve), is high but decreases as the
material deforms during the primary creep stage. At sufficiently large strains, the material creeps at a
constant rate. This is called the secondary or steady-state creep stage. Ordinarily this is the most important
stage of creep since the time to failure tf is determined primarily by the secondary creep rate. In the case of
tension creep, the secondary creep stage is eventually interrupted by the onset of tertiary creep, which is
characterized by internal fracturing of the material, creep acceleration, and finally failure.

How is the results compared to the theory? A typical creep curve for a plastic specimen is shown in
Figure 1. The initial part of the characteristic shows the three stages of creep. The strain has been
calculated by dividing the different in length (4.1mm) over original length (10mm), which gives an
elastic strain of 0.41. For the theory calculation which is 669.6E (E=Modulus of elasticity), there might
be a slight different from the result obtained from the experiment. The higher the load being applied
to the specimen the faster the time taken for the specimen to reach fracture period. However, this
result is for a higher stress and very much shorter creep time than would normally be used for
material testing

One of the error occurred when doing the experiment is that the size measure and the real size of the
specimen is not precise, thus making the error happen. Another factor that most likely to cause the
experiment to has an error from the theory result is that the specimen is not carefully cut from its required
shape. It make the specimen have a small unnecessary cut that make the specimen comes to fracture stage
faster than usual. Moreover, temperature of the surrounding also affects the experimental result. This is
because at high temperatures the entire creep process can occur in a matter of seconds. The last error that
might occurred is the apparatus or equipment used showed error before the experiment or the placing of the
specimen onto the universal testing machine is not correct or slightly misplace.

Figure 4:Apparatus diagram

Conclusion:
As a conclusion, we know that the creep test is conducted using a tensile specimen which a constant stress
is applied, often by the simple method of suspending weights from it. Deformation is recorded at specified
time intervals and a creep vs. time diagram is plotted. Slope of curve at any point is creep rate. If failure
occurs, it terminates test and time for rupture is recorded. If specimen does not fracture within test period,
creep recovery may be measured. Creep is generally divided into three stages. The primary creep starts at
a rapid rate and slows with time. The secondary creep has a relatively uniform rate and the tertiary creep has
an accelerated creep rate and terminates when the material breaks or ruptures. If creep recovery is
measured, the test will determine the stress-relaxation. The rate of decrease in deformation that takes place
when the load is removed. Creep is also sometimes referred to as Stress-Relaxation testing.

Reference
 Hashemi, S. Foundations of materials science and engineering, 2006, 4th edition,
McGraw Hill, ISBN 007-125690-3
 Dieter, G.E., Mechanical metallurgy, 1988, SI metric edition, McGraw-Hill, ISBN 0-07-
10046-8.