l8-thermal-fatigue.ppt

Thermal Fatigue Lecture 8 Overview Thermal Fatigue Example Thermal Fatigue Thermal Fatigue Some structures are subjected to repeated cycles of thermal shock. This is typical in power generation equipment that is switched on and off repeatedly (car and aircraft engines, peak-load electricity generation equipment) and in some electronic components. In severe cases two concerns arise: The first transient may create an unacceptably large deformation, which may be enough to cause failure or excessive distortion. Low-cycle thermal fatigue. Thermal Fatigue Low-cycle thermal fatigue Low-cycle thermal fatigue occurs when the structure is unable to establish a residual stress state in the initial cycle that will allow subsequent cycles to have purely elastic response. When there is such a residual stress state, the structure is said to have “shaken down,” and low-cycle fatigue is not a problem. When shakedown cannot occur, each subsequent thermal cycle causes additional inelastic deformation, leading to: Low-cycle fatigue failure, or Thermal ratchetting, whereby there is a net change in dimension of the structure with each cycle so that, eventually, it is unable to perform its design function. An example of ratchetting is the growth of the inside diameter of a gun barrel with repeated, rapid firing of the gun. Thermal Fatigue In cyclic problems the temperatures during the hot part of the cycle are often high enough to induce creep in the material. The creep range for metals usually begins at about two-thirds of the metals’ melting point on the absolute temperature scale. Long hold periods at high temperatures may, therefore, lead to significant stress relaxation, thus destroying the possibility of creating a self-equilibrating stress field that might in turn provide shakedown. Therefore, low-cycle thermal fatigue usually involves repeated cycles of plasticity and creep. Thermal Fatigue Since the design must usually last for at least several thousand cycles, the a