Effect of Temperature on Damage Evolution of Cr25Ni35Nb Alloy Subjected to Combined Mechanical and Environmental Degradation

Due to combined mechanical and environmental degradation, i.e. coupled creep and carburization, Cr25Ni35Nb alloy often fails prior to the expected design life. In the present paper, based on the continuum damage mechanics, the constitutive model of coupled multi-damage factors for computing the damage evolution of Cr25Ni35Nb alloy was proposed. The damage prediction was carried out by using finite element method based on ABAQUS code. And then damage evolution processes at different operating temperatures (950 C and 1050 C) were simulated and the effect of service temperature on the damage evolution was discussed. The results showed that the rate of damage increased obviously with operating temperature increasing. The location with maximum damage is along the inner surface of tube, which implies that fracture begins along the inner surface of tube under the action of coupled creep and carburization damage and this is coincident with the actual observation of the failure of furnace tube.