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In this equipment, the specimen is loaded in tension, and the specimen used is similar to the standard tensile
specimen. The surface of the specimen test length should be free from tool marks, scratches or other
imperfections that might cause stress concentrations. The specimen is held vertically in long shackles of heat
resisting metal which are attached at the top to the frame and at the bottom to a strain measuring device to
determine the elongation under test. A furnace is mounted on the frame and surrounds the specimen. The
equipment is provided with the temperature controls and recording equipment and also time and sensitive
extension measuring devices.
The control of temperature is very important. The variation should not be more than 1C, if the
temperature is less than 450C and 2C if the temperature is above 450C.
The stress applied to the specimen should be accurately determined to within 1 %. Care must be taken to see
that the specimen is in perfect alignment so that true axiality of loading is obtained. The best way to calculate
the amount of stress applied is to perform a static tensile test on the specimen of the material provided and
determine the tensile strength. The applied load is equal to the load causing a stress equal to the two-third of
the strength of the specimen.
Creep data for general design use are usually obtained under conditions of constant uniaxial loading and
constant temperature. The resulting strain and time are taken as data points and are plotted as strain versus
time. The time of each test may be matter of hours, weeks, or months, even years. However, in these days
the test may be run for 1000 to 3000 hours.
To run a creep test, the following steps are followed:
a. In making tests at a given temperature, the unloaded specimen is first heated to the required
temperature. When the temperature of the specimen shows constancy, the gauge length is observed.
When a load is applied at the beginning of a creep test, the instantaneous elastic deformation (elongation) AB
is followed by the primary or transient creep BC. In the initial stage, strain occurs at a relatively rapid rate.
The deformation is partly elastic and partly plastic. In the second stage, the rate of deformation gradually
decreases until it becomes approximately constant. CD is the secondary or steady state creep. This constant
creep rate is called the minimum creep rate or steady-state creep rate since it is the slowest creep rate during
the test. In the third stage called tertiary state the strain rate increases until failure occurs. During third stage
creep, necking begins, the stress increases, and the specimen deforms at an accelerated rate until failure
occurs. The time required for failure to occur is the rupture time. Either a higher stress or a higher
temperature reduces the rupture time. The rate of deformation and the duration of the second stage are useful
information for design purposes.
Creep % is calculated in the same manner as the elongation % associated with a tensile test, i.e.,
Creep %
The difference between the elongation % and the creep % is that the former reflects the immediate response
of the material to the applied load, whereas, the latter reflects the response of the material after the load has
been applied for a very long period of time.
Creep rate
/ t = strain / time
is determined by the slope of the curve in the period of secondary creep CD. In other words, the slope of the
steady-state portion of the creep curve is the creep rate.
Creep is also known as the Viscous Flow. Creep rate increases with increasing temperature because diffusive
re-arrangements responsible for viscous flow occur more readily. At temperature greater than about half the
absolute m.p. various viscous like processes become operative in addition to plastic flow processes, whereas
at temperatures below about 0.5 Tm, viscous processes tend to be unimportant. This division is reflected by
typical creep curves for a metal at high and low temperatures. See figure below.
Total creep at any timet can be found from the following relation:
t = 0 + 0 t
testing. Stress rupture tests are used to determine the time necessary to produce failure so stress rupture
testing is always done until failure. Data is plotted log-log as in the chart above. A straight line or best fit
curve is usually obtained at each temperature of interest. This information can then be used to extrapolate
time to failure for longer times. A typical set of stress rupture curves is shown below.
With either increasing stress or temperature, the following will be noted: (1) the
instantaneous strain at the time of stress application increases; (2) the steady-state
creep rate is increased; and (3) the rupture lifetime is diminished.
The results of creep rupture tests are most commonly presented as the logarithm of
stress or versus the logarithm of rupture lifetime. Figure below is one such plot for
nickel alloy in which a linear relationship can be seen to exist at each temperature. For
some alloys and over relatively large stress ranges, nonlinearity in these curves is
observed.
Logarithm of stress versus logarithm of rupture lifetime for a low carbon-nickel alloy at three
temperatures
Empirical relationship have been developed in which the steady-state creep rate as a
function of stress and temperature is expressed. Its dependence on stress can be
written
/ t = K1n
where K1 and n are material constants. A plot of the logarithm of / t versus the
logarithm of yields a straight line with slope of n; this is shown in the figure below for
a nickel alloy at three temperatures. Clearly, a straight line segment is drawn at each
temperature.
Logarithm of stress versus logarithm of steady-state creep rate for a low carbon-nickel alloy at three
temperatures