Materials and Design 32 (2011) 2710–2716

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Materials and Design

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Fatigue crack growth in nickel-based superalloys at elevated temperatures

M. Abbadi a,b,⇑, P. Hähner c, S. Belouettar a, M. Zenasni b
a
LTI, CRP Henri Tudor, 29 Bd John F. Kennedy, L-1855 Luxemburg, Luxembourg
b
ENSA, Équipe de Mécanique et Calcul Scientifique, Université Mohamed 1er, BP 696, Oujda, Morocco
c
Institute for Energy, DG-Joint Research Centre, European Commission, NL-1755 ZG Petten, The Netherlands

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: In the present work, fatigue crack growth in two nickel-base mono-materials and one bi-material has
Received 29 October 2010 been investigated at 450 and 550 °C. The electric potential drop technique was found to better estimate
Accepted 7 January 2011 the crack length during cycling as compared to the compliance method. This finding is supported by
Available online 19 January 2011
microscopic observations of the fracture surface and also by the numerical simulation using finite ele-
ment code Castem2000. The crack was found to grow faster in the coarse grained material than in the
Keywords: fine grained one. The fracture surface observation showed that the performance of the bi-material is
C. Hot isostatic pressing
linked to the mono-material content at the interface. In addition, the content of each mono-material at
E. Fracture
F. Elastic behaviour
the interface was found to be very stochastic. This heterogeneity, due to the assembly process, strongly
affects the behaviour of the biomaterial. Finite element computation showed a good agreement between
numerical and experimental results in term of stress intensity factor.
Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved.

1. Introduction interface between the bi-metallic discs have been presented in a

Safety standards, environment legislation compliance and high-
er performance in terms of substantial power and efficiency gains
are the main challenge to which gas turbine engine industry is con-
stantly confronted. This is why nickel-base superalloys are widely
used in the hot section of gas turbine engine owing to their high
thermomechanical strength characteristics.
It has been known since the early work of Rosenhain and Ewen
[1] that metals undergo a transition from a transgranular fracture
to an intergranular one as the temperature is increased. This is
characterized by the localization of plastic deformation along the
grain boundary. Since the amount of grain boundary area decreases
with increasing grain size, a material with a large grain size is
found to exhibit a higher creep resistance than a fine grain
material. Oppositely, a fine grain material shows a better tensile
and fatigue strength than a coarse grain material.
Based on these indications, gas turbine engine manufacturers
introduced the concept of bi-metallic discs to achieve their objec-
tives in terms of good tensile, fatigue and creep properties at ele-
vated temperatures. Indeed, they conceived a fine grain disc
which was introduced by hot isostatic pressing (HIP) into a coarse
grain material. The shape (Fig. 1) and the tensile strength of the
⇑ Corresponding author at: ENSA, Équipe de Mécanique et Calcul Scientifique,
Université Mohamed 1[er], BP 696, Oujda, Morocco. Tel.: +352 425991548; fax:
+352 425991555.
E-mail address: mabbadi@ensa.ump.ma (M. Abbadi).
previous investigation by Abbadi et al. [2].
In the present study, fatigue crack growth tests have been car-
ried-out to characterize the joint resistance and to compare the
performance of the bi-metal to both the fine and coarse grain
mono-material discs. For this purpose, the electric potential drop
technique has been used to experimentally estimate the crack
length during cycling at uniaxial constant loading and different
temperatures. Finally, the experimental results in terms of stress
intensity factor were validated by a numerical method based on
SIF (stress intensity factor) procedure provided by the finite ele-
ment code Castem2000 [3].
2. Experimental procedure
Two nickel-based superalloy materials have been selected for
the present study, for the hub section the alloy U720PM (obtained
by powder metallurgy, fine grained) and for the rim part the alloy
U720LC (low carbon content, coarse grained). Fatigue crack growth
tests were conducted on compact tension (CT) specimens cut-out
from each disc at constant load amplitude DP ¼ 10:8 kN, stress ra-
tio R ¼ 0:1 and frequency f ¼ 1 Hz using a triangular waveform
signal and for two temperatures of 450 and 550 °C. Details of the
specimen geometrical configuration are indicated on Fig. 2. To
monitor the crack growth, the compliance method based on the
specimen stiffness measurement was used. For this, an MTS exten-
someter of 15.24 mm gauge length was placed on the front face of
the CT specimen as shown in Fig. 3. Two hold bars of 3.5 mm thick-
ness were fixed on the right face of the specimen to avoid any

0261-3069/$ - see front matter Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.matdes.2011.01.018
 M. Abbadi et al. / Materials and Design 32 (2011) 2710–2716 2711

Hub contact between the legs of the extensometer and the specimen.
The heating of the specimen is ensured by a resistance furnace
mounted on the electromechanical test rig of type Instron. A ther-
mocouple was placed very close to the specimen to indicate the
true temperature of the test and to allow its regulation with more
accuracy.
The electrical potential drop method [4–6] is one of the most
commonly used techniques for measuring the initiation and
growth of cracks at elevated temperatures. In this technique the in-
crease in electrical resistivity of a specimen to which a constant
current (AC or DC) is applied is used to monitor crack extension.
Based on this technique, the crack length was simultaneously eval-
uated for more reliability of the measurements. This alternating
current potential drop (ACPD) method consists in determining
the potential drop measurement between two pairs of sensing
Rim electrodes M1 and M2 installed symmetrically to the notch as indi-
cated in Fig. 4. To secure reproducible conditions for evaluating the
Fig. 1. Examples of bi-metallic discs from which the testing specimens were cut
crack size it was necessary to carefully spot-weld the sensing elec-
and showing the location and the shape of the interface (disc diameter about
300 mm). trodes M1 and M2, and the electrodes IM for supply of measuring

Fig. 2. Dimensions of CT specimen used.

2712 M. Abbadi et al. / Materials and Design 32 (2011) 2710–2716

Table 1
Dimensions of CT specimen necessary for the computation of the crack length a and
the stress intensity factor range DK.

Height, H Thickness, B Net thickness, BN Width, W

(mm) (mm) (mm) (mm)
31.2 13 13 26

teristic feature, for structural integrity assessment of structures

containing cracks or singular stress fields, is the stress intensity
factor (SIF). The analysis of this concept was carried-out by
Williams [7] who took into account the work of Westergaard [8].
The SIF was defined here according to the ASTM standard method
E1820 [9] as:
DP a
DK ¼ pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi  f ð2Þ
B  BN  W w
where DK is stress intensity factor range and the geometrical cor-
rection function f ðwa Þ is defined as:
h    2  3  4 i
a ð2 þ Wa Þ  0:886 þ 4:64  Wa  13:32  Wa þ 14:72  Wa  5:6  Wa
f ¼ 3=2
w ð1  Wa Þ

Fig. 3. Specimen mounting and extensometer fixation.

and B, BN, and W are thickness, net thickness and width of the spec-
imen, respectively. These dimensions, indicated on Fig. 2, are listed
in Table 1.

0.1*H 1
IM
3. Results and discussion
M2 IM
6
The prediction of fatigue crack growth in materials is a research
U720PM 2 area of high importance for the structures requiring a high reliabil-
ity. This prediction is particularly tricky for structures made-up of
M1 bi-metallic materials. Indeed, their interface, where strong stress
3
H concentrations are observed, constitutes a preferential zone of fati-
0.1*H
gue crack initiation and may lead to possible catastrophic failure.
4
a0 M1 The examination of the fracture surface on the microscope re-
a vealed that the evaluation of the crack length is better estimated
U720LC
from the electric than the compliance method. In addition, this
5 finding is supported by the finite element predictions. This is
M2 IM why the evaluation of the crack length was based on the potential
drop method. The last was meticulously calibrated so that only
data point stored at maximum load, when the crack is well open,
are considered. The fatigue crack closure mechanism, well known
Fig. 4. Electrodes installation on CT specimen and specification of material location since the early work of Elber [10], and asperities on the mating
in the case of a bi-material.

14
current with respect to the distance 0.1  H between both the elec-
trodes M1, and the electrodes M2 and IM. All the electrodes were 12
connected to the corresponding sensing units and their signals
were continuously recorded. Then, the crack length was approxi- 10
mately evaluated according to the following formula:
sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi 8
A2 þ 1:6
a [mm]

H DUM 1
a¼  with A¼ ð1Þ 6
4 1  A2 DUM 2
where DUM1 is the electrical potential difference between points 4
M1, DUM2 is the electrical potential difference between points M2, U720LC
A is the electrical potential difference ratio between points M1 2 550°C
and M2 and H is the height of the specimen. 450°C
Considerable research was performed to evaluate correctly the 0
0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000 30000
safe load and the crack length which preclude failure in an esti-
N [s]
mated service life. The basic idea is to calculate the number of cy-
cles necessary so that the initial crack reaches the critical length. Fig. 5. Variations of crack length versus number of cycles for the U720LC mono-
Another essential linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM) charac- material at 450 and 550 °C, respectively.
 M. Abbadi et al. / Materials and Design 32 (2011) 2710–2716 2713

crack faces may come in contact and introduce an error in the mea-
surement of crack length by the PD technique [11]. This closure
mechanism is sometimes advantaged by the presence of an oxide
layer at the crack surfaces [12].
3.1. Effect of temperature
To investigate the effect of temperature on the crack growth in
the U720LC mono-material, two fatigue crack growth tests have
been performed at 450 and 550 °C, respectively. The variations of
the crack length versus the number of cycles for these two tests
are depicted in Fig. 5. These curves show that the crack length re-
mains almost invariable during the first 5000 cycles, which corre-
spond to the initiation stage of the fatigue crack at notch tip. They
also show that the propagation stage is faster for the test achieved
at 550 °C. After the initiation stage, a crack propagation that be-
comes fast beyond 7000 cycles, due to the increase of the stress
intensity factor [13–15], is clearly observed. This augmentation is
reported in Fig. 6 that displays the stress intensity factor range
DK versus the crack length a. It is well established that the crack
tip is a privileged site for plastic deformation mechanisms. The last
control the fatigue crack progress and it is very clear that the cyclic
behaviour of the material has a significant influence on the devel-
opment of these mechanisms. It seams from the results of Fig. 5
that the U720LC material exhibits a softening as temperature is
increased at least from 450 to 550 °C. However, only low cycle
fatigue tests may validate or invalidate whether a material cycli-
cally softens or hardens when the temperature is increased.
In the same way, fatigue crack growth resistance of the mono-
material U720PM has been also investigated at 450 and 550 °C.
The plots of Fig. 7 shows that the crack length varies slowly until
almost 7500 cycles. After these initiation stages, propagation
stages which become faster from about 10,000 cycles is clearly ob-
served. Moreover, this material exhibits a lower fatigue crack
growth resistance at 550 than 450 °C. The variations of the stress
intensity factor range DK versus the crack length a for this material
are shown in Fig. 8 for the two temperatures.
The behaviour of the bi-material (U720PM/U720LC) is similar to
that of its components U720PM and U720LC mono-materials at
both temperatures of 450 and 550 °C. This material is found to ex-
hibit a normal temperature dependence characterized by a faster
progression of the crack length at 550 °C (Cf. Fig. 9).
3.2. Grain size effect
The crack length dependence on the number of cycles, for the
three materials at 450 °C, is plotted on Fig. 10. This figure shows
that the crack propagates faster in the U720LC than in the

50 50
U720LC U720PM
550°C 550°C
45 450°C 45 450°C

40 40
Δ K [MPa.m ]
Δ K [MPa.m ]

1/2
1/2

35 35

30 30

25 25

20 20
6 8 10 12 14 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
a [mm] a [mm]
Fig. 6. Variations of the stress intensity factor range as a function of the crack Fig. 8. Variations of the stress intensity factor range as a function of the crack
length for the U720LC mono-material at 450 and 550 °C, respectively. length for the U720PM mono-material at 450 and 550 °C, respectively.

14 14

12 12

10 10

8 8
a [mm]
a [mm]

6 6

4 4
U720PM U720PM/U720LC
2 550°C 2 550°C
450°C 450°C
0 0
0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000 30000 35000 0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000 30000 35000
N [s] N [s]

Fig. 7. Variations of crack length versus number of cycles for the U720PM mono- Fig. 9. Variations of crack length versus number of cycles for the U720PM/U720LC
material at 450 and 550 °C, respectively. joint material at 450 and 550 °C, respectively.
2714 M. Abbadi et al. / Materials and Design 32 (2011) 2710–2716

U720PM mono-material. This result is in very good agreement
with the experimentally fatigue test data obtained by Turnbull
and De Los Rios on polycrystalline commercially pure aluminium
samples with grain sizes of 21, 40 and 135 lm [16]. This is why
the hub disc, which should resist to fatigue, was made-up of the
fine grain material (U720PM). While the data points representing
the crack length of the joint material (U720PM/U720LC) during cy-
cling are found to be shifted towards those of the U720PM mono-
material. These results are supported by microscopic observations
made on the fracture surface of the joint material by means of a
Secondary Electrons Microscope (SEM Zeiss-LEO S430). To under-
stand the fracture mechanism, the fatigue crack growth test was
stopped before the final fracture and the sample was separated
by tensile overload at room temperature. The oxide layer that
developed on the fracture surface was removed prior to fracto-
graphic analyses. Indeed, the fracture surface shown in Fig. 11
states that the crack growth develops within 2/3 in the
U720PM and 1/3 in the U720LC mono-material.
The same behaviour is observed at 550 °C, but the curve repre-
senting the crack growth of the bi-material is found to entirely
coincide with that of the U720PM mono-material (Cf. Fig. 12). This
is explained by the fact that the crack grows within the U720PM,
i.e. the interface area is predominated by the presence of the
U720PM. Indeed, the interface is subjected to inhomogeneities
due to both the assembly process and the location from which
CT specimen has been cut-out. Microscopic observations made
on the fracture surface of this joint material at 550 °C show clearly
that the interface is totally dominated by the presence of the
U720PM mono-material (Fig. 13).
4. Numerical simulations
Finite element modelling (FEM) has been performed using the
FE code Cast3M developed by the French Atomic Energy Commis-
sion (CEA) [3]. The model used is based on the elastic behaviour of
the materials and SIF procedure to calculate the stress intensity
factor in mode I from the displacements of the sides of the crack.
Eight-node 2-D elements (QUA8) have been used to design the
mesh and the computations have been carried-out considering
the plane strain assumption. The geometry and the loading are gi-
ven in Fig. 14a; while the boundary conditions are such that the
displacement of the lower (respectively upper) left corner point
is imposed to be zero in all directions (respectively in horizontal
direction). A refined mesh, defined by a semi-circular area with a
low radius around the crack tip, was dictated for the accuracy of
the computation as shown in Fig. 14b.
The Poisson’s ratio was taken the same and equal 0.33, while
the Young’s modulus values for all the materials at 450 and
550 °C were displayed in Table 2. It should be noted that these val-
ues are average values and the E-modulus of the bi-material is

14 14

12 12

10 10

8 8
a [mm]

a [mm]

6 6

4 4
450°C 550°C
U720LC U720LC
2 U720PM/U720LC 2 U720PM/U720LC
U720PM U720PM
0 0
0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000 30000 35000 0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000 30000
N [s] N [s]
Fig. 10. The crack length dependence on the number of cycles for the three Fig. 12. The crack length dependence on the number of cycles for the three
materials at 450 °C. materials at 550 °C.

U720PM U720LC
U720PM U720LC

LC PM
PM PM

Fig. 11. Fracture surface of the joint material U720PM/U720LC; fatigue crack Fig. 13. Fracture surface of the joint material U720PM/U720LC; fatigue crack
growth test at 450 °C. growth test at 550 °C.
 M. Abbadi et al. / Materials and Design 32 (2011) 2710–2716 2715

Fig. 14. (a) FEM model and (b) Refined mesh around the crack tip of the CT specimen.

Table 2 the crack results in a severe stress raiser near the crack tip.
Elastic modulus at 450 and 550 °C for the U720PM, U720LC and U720PM/U720LC Furthermore, the stress ryy along the loading axis was found to
materials. be very large at the crack tip and to decrease rapidly at the near
T (°C) Material places.
For the same aforementioned reasons and for the clarity of the
U720PM U720LC U720PM/U720LC
graphs, separate comparison between the experimental and
450 202 196 201
numerical variations of the stress intensity factor as a function of
550 195 190 192
the crack length at 450 °C (respectively 550 °C) for the U720PM
(respectively U720LC) is presented in Fig. 16 (respectively
strongly dependent on the content of each mono-material at the Fig. 17). These plots show a good concordance between numerical
interface. This outcome is well illustrated by the results of and experimental results.
Fig. 12, where the interface is entirely dominated by the presence
of the U720PM mono-material.
Due to the low gap in the elastic properties between the studied 5. Conclusion
materials, the high stress concentration near the crack tip has been
numerically determined and shown only for the U720LC mono- The mechanical properties in terms of fatigue crack growth of
material at 450 °C (Cf. Fig. 15). It is obvious from this figure that the different nickel-base superalloys (U720PM, U720LC and

Fig. 15. (a) Contour plot of the stress distribution ryy near the crack tip and (b) Detail of the crack tip area.
2716 M. Abbadi et al. / Materials and Design 32 (2011) 2710–2716

60 Fatigue crack growth tests performed at 450 and 550 °C on CT

U720PM ; T=450°C specimens showed that the propagation is faster at 550 than
KI_PD
KI_Castem
450 °C for all the materials.
The crack length dependence on the number of cycles, for the
50
three materials, showed that the crack propagates faster in
the U720LC than in the U720PM mono-material; while that of
KI [MPa.m ]
1/2

the bi-metal lies in between but depends strongly on the content

40 of each mono-material at the interface. This result shows that
the content of the U720PM and U720LC mono-materials is very
stochastic at the interface. Moreover, this heterogeneity, due to
30 the assembly process, affects considerably the behaviour of the
joint material.

Acknowledgements
20
6 8 10 12 14
a [mm] Dr. Abbadi acknowledges the mobility financial support pro-
vided by the National Research Fund of Luxembourg referenced
Fig. 16. Comparison between numerical and experimental variations of the stress FNR/09/AM2c/01.
intensity factor versus the crack length for the U720PM at 450 °C.

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