Developing Dislocation Subgrain Structures and Cyclic Softening During High-Temperature Creep–Fatigue of a Nickel Alloy

The complex cyclic deformation response of Alloy 617 under creep–fatigue conditions is of practical interest both in terms of the observed detriment in failure life and the considerable cyclic softening that occurs. At the low strain ranges investigated, the inelastic strain is the sole predictor of the failure life without taking into consideration a potentially significant environmental influence. The tensile-hold creep–fatigue peak stress response can be directly correlated to the evolving dislocation substructure, which consists of a relatively homogenous distribution of subgrains. Progressive high-temperature cycling with a static hold allows for the rearrangement of loose tangles of dislocations into well-ordered hexagonal dislocation networks. The cyclic softening during tensile-hold creep–fatigue deformation is attributable to two factors: the rearrangement of dislocation substructures into lower-energy configurations, which includes a decreasing dislocation density in subgrain interiors through integration into the subgrain boundaries, and the formation of surface grain boundary cracks and cavity formation or separation at interior grain boundaries, which occurs perpendicular to the stress axis. Effects attributable to the tensile character of the hold cycle are further analyzed through variations in the creep–fatigue waveform and illuminate the effects of the hold-time character on the overall creep–fatigue behavior and evolution of the dislocation substructure.