Investigation on the validity of creep damage mechanics for the life time prediction of T92 welded joint

This paper reports the damage evolution in ASME T92 welded joints during creep process. The creep test was conducted at 650℃ with applied stress of 90 MPa. The creep specimen was ultimately fractured at the fine-grained heat affected zones after creep for 1560 h. The metallographic results show that the cavity number and size in fine-grained heat affected zones increase with the creep time. The coalescence of creep cavities happened at the late stage of the creep life, which depending on the adjacent voids grows and propagates into the micro-crack. Besides, the deterioration in fine-grained heat affected zones of T92 steel welded joint with various creep time can be simulated based on the continuum damage mechanics with modified Kachanov-Rabotnov constitutive equation. The result of simulated creep rupture life is in good agreement with the experimental value, which indicates that the continuum damage mechanics can be used to predict creep life and evaluate creep deterioration in a T92 steel welded joint.