Fatigue variability of a single crystal superalloy at elevated temperature

Abstract In order to develop more accurate life prediction tools, an improved understanding of the variability within the fatigue behavior of a material is required. Recent work has shown multiple failure mechanisms that drive the variability in fatigue life of polycrystalline titanium and nickel materials. In addition, the bimodal behavior in the fatigue response is not readily apparent when only a very small number of specimens are tested at each loading condition, as is normal practice. The objective of this work was to investigate the fatigue variability of a single crystal nickel-base superalloy at elevated temperature. PWA1484, a second generation single crystal alloy developed for advanced turbine airfoil applications, was the material of choice for this investigation. A large number of fatigue tests were performed at one condition (stress level, stress ratio, frequency and temperature) to determine the variability and identify the sources of uncertainty in life. Scanning electron microscopy was used to investigate the relationship between failure mechanisms and variability. Crack growth analyses were used to predict lowest life estimates and were compared to experimental data. The results show large variability in fatigue life at fairly high stresses. Evaluation of the fracture surfaces indicated that microstructural features such as carbides and eutectics were responsible for the failures. In addition, the size of the feature responsible for fatigue failure could not be directly related to the fatigue life. The lowest expected life based on fatigue crack growth analyses did agree with the shortest life found experimentally. However, more testing and analysis is required.