EVALUATION OF ISOTHERMAL AGED 9Cr2W STEEL USING ULTRASOUND

DongYeol Kim, HakJoon Kim, SungJin Song, BumJoon Kim, and ByeongSoo Lim Citation: AIP Conf. Proc. 975, 1154 (2008); doi: 10.1063/1.2902562 View online: http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.2902562 View Table of Contents: http://proceedings.aip.org/dbt/dbt.jsp?KEY=APCPCS&Volume=975&Issue=1 Published by the American Institute of Physics.

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EVALUATION OF ISOTHERMAL AGED 9Cr-2W STEEL USING ULTRASOUND

Dong-Yeol Kim, Hak-Joon Kim, Sung-Jin Song, Bum-Joon Kim and Byeong-Soo Lim School of Mechanical Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, Korea

ABSTRACT. 9Cr-2W steel is used as structural materials of high temperature and pressure components in power plants. These components can be degraded as increasing their operation time. Since isothermal aged 9Cr-2W steel is subject to cavities or precipitates between grain boundaries, it is one of the major causes of early breakage of these components. Therefore, it is necessary to insure reliability of the power plants by using nondestructive evaluation. To address such a need, in this study, we evaluated isothermal damaged 9Cr-2W steel specimens using ultrasound. The specimens used in this study were prepared by isothermal aging at 600C with variation in aging time. Using the measured data, we investigated relations between attenuations and area fraction of cavities or precipitates and between sound velocities and hardness of the isothermal aged P92 steel. Furthermore, we evaluated creep-fatigue life time of the isothermal aged 9Cr-2W steel using attenuation and sound velocity. Keywords: 9Cr-2W Steel, Ultrasonic Method, Attenuation and Velocity, Isothermal Damage PACS: 43.20.Hq, 62.30.Hg, 81.40.Np

INTRODUCTION 9Cr-2W (P92) steel is widely used as structural material of high pressure and high temperature power plants since the P92 steel have excellence in mechanical and oxidationresistant properties [1, 2]. However, creep-fatigue or creep damage is generated in these components which were operated under the high temperature and high pressure environment. Isothermal damage (creep or creep-fatigue) is one of the major causes of early breakage or failure of power plants. Thus, a technique for nondestructive evaluation of isothermal damage is necessary to insure reliability of power plants. Among various nondestructive testing methods, ultrasonic method is one of the most useful tools for evaluating materials degradation including isothermal damage. In fact, ultrasound techniques have been applied for the characterization of microstructures, evaluation of materials properties, and assessment of defects during heat treatment, fabrication and in service inspection of the components [3,4]. Especially, it is possible to detect very small flaws such as micro-cracks, cavities and variation of materials properties by using high frequency ultrasound. In the case of P92 steel with isothermal damage, cavities (creep-fatigue) or precipitations (creep) nucleate and grow in the grain boundaries. Then, hardness of the isothermal damaged P92 steel decreases by increasing the aging time. So, in this study, we evaluated the isothermal damaged P92 steel by measuring attenuation of ultrasound and sound velocity, since attenuation and sound velocity show good relations with cavities, precipitations and hardness. Using high frequency ultrasonic transducers, we have measured attenuation factors and sound velocities for the isothermal aged at 600C with variation in aging time. From the measured ultrasonic parameters (attenuations and sound velocities) and metallographic data, we have investigated the relations between the

CP975, Review of Quantitative Nondestructive Evaluation Vol. 27, ed. by D. O. Thompson and D. E. Chimenti 2008 American Institute of Physics 978-0-7354-0494-6/08/$23.00

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ultrasonic parameters and the material properties (hardness and area fraction of cavities or precipitations) of the isothermal damaged P92 steel specimens. Furthermore, we have predicted the creep-fatigue life time using the measured ultrasonic parameters. In this paper, the relation between attenuations and area fraction of cavities or precipitations, and that between sound velocities and hardness are presented. Also, accuracy of prediction using the ultrasonic parameters is presented by the comparison with the result obtained by using destructive methods. EXPERIMENTS Isothermal Aged Specimens In this study, we have prepared two different sets of isothermal aged specimens: one for creep-fatigue damaged specimens and the other for creep damaged specimens. And, the chemical composition of P92 (9Cr-2W) steel used in the study is shown in Table 1. Creep-fatigue damaged specimens were etched to find the weld area before cutting into the compact tension (CT) specimens (ASTME 647) as shown in Fig. 1. (a). And, we have made pre-cracks at heat affected zones (HAZ) of the CT specimens in order to control the initiation and propagation of the fatigue cracks, because HAZ is critical area leading to early breakage of the creep-fatigued components. Fatigue test parameters were as follows: temperature was 600C, applied load was in constant amplitude sinusoidal waveform with frequency of 20Hz, and load ratio, R, was 0.1. The specimens are fabricated with different holding times (0 sec, 10 sec, 50 sec, 100 sec and 1000 sec) as shown in Table 2 (a). And, creep damaged specimens were aged at 600C with variation in aging time from 0 hr to 12100 hr and machined into cubic type of coupons as shown in Table 2 (b). Total number of the creep damaged specimens was 18: 9 specimens of them were taken from base parts and the other 9 specimens were taken from HAZ) as shown in Fig. 1 (b). Figs. 2 and 3 show micrographs of the isothermal aged P92 steel specimens having different holding and aging. As shown in Fig. 2, the number and size of cavities (microvoids) increased as increase of their holding time. To quantify the distribution of cavities, the fraction of cavities per unit area is was defined and calculated by an image analyzer. Also, as shown in Fig. 3, numbers of precipitations in the grain boundaries (area fraction of precipitations) were increased as increasing their aging time.
TABLE 1. Chemical composition of P92 (wt.^/o). Mn P Al Cr C Si S 0.10 0.22 0.48 0.017 0.006 0.01 9.11

Ni 0.18

Mo 0.47

V 0.18

Nb 0.056

N 0.0405

W 1.71

B 0.0029

(a) (b) FIGURE 1. A photo of the isothermal damaged specimens: (a) creep-fatigue damaged specimens, (b) creep damaged specimens.

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TABLE 2. Specifications of the specimens. (a) Creep-fatigue damage Loading Hold Unloading Material time(sec) time(sec) time(sec) 0 10 P92 50 1 1 HAZ 100 1000

(b) Creep damage Load ratio(R)

Aging Time (hr) Ohr 400 hr 800 hr leOOhr 6500 hr 8100 hr lOOOOhr 12100hr Thickness (mm) Base Weld 10 00 9.95 9.95 10 00 10 00 10 05 8.80 6.85 6.45 9.95 685 9.95 10 00 10 00 10 00 10 00

0.1

(a) 10 sec (b) 50 sec (c) 100 sec FIGURE 2. Microphotos of the creep-fatigue damaged P92 steel specimens.

(d) 1000 sec

(a) 0 hr (b) 800 hr (c) 6500hr FIGURE 3. Microphotos of the creep damaged P92 steel specimens.

(d) 12100 hr

Ultrasonic Measurements As shown in Figs. 2 and 3, cavities or precipitates between grain boundaries in the isothermal aged P92 steel specimens appeared and increased as increasing their holding and aging time. Also, hardness is another good parameter to monitoring isothermal aged P92 steel. So, in this study, we applied attenuations and velocities of ultrasound for the evaluation of isothermal damaged specimens. To get attenuation coefficients and velocities, we have acquired multiple back surface echoes reflected from the specimen back surface in an immersion setup with fixed water path length as shown in Fig. 4. For attenuation calculation of coefficients using the multiple back surface echoes, ultrasonic measurement models that can describe the given ultrasonic testing setup were necessary. Equations (1) and (2) are measurement models for calculation of the first back surface echo,Fgj (<) , and second back surface echo, V'\ ,{m) [5]. (1)
Kn {') = P{')^nK^2iDBn ()exp[-{2a^\ + 4aj/ij)]

(2)

J h

ha

^'

'

'

hi

FIGURE 4. A schematic diagram for measurement of attenuation coefficients using multiple back surface echoes in an immersion setup( BSl: first back surface echo, BS2: second back surface echo).

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where a is an attenuation coefficient, Dj^s^{(o), Dj^^^i^) is diffraction corrections, R^^'x^ a reflection coefficient, and T is transmission coefficient. Using the measured multiple back surface echoes, Vj^^^[co) and Vj^^^{^co), and diffraction corrections, Dj^^ii^o) ^ ^Bsii^) ^ we have attenuation coefficients for the specimens, ctr2, after applying the Winer filter, W{CD) [5].
1 In
VBSl

(3)

RESULTS Ultrasonic Attenuations Using the acquired back surface echoes and Eq. (3), attenuation coefficients of the isothermal aged P92 steel specimens were calculated. Figure 5 (a) shows example of calculated the attenuation coefficients for the base metal, HAZ and weld metal of the creepfatigue damaged P92 steel specimens using a planar transducer (30 MHz nominal center frequency, 0.25 inch diameter). As shown in Fig. 5 (a), the attenuations of the creep-fatigue damaged P92 steel specimens was increased with the order of HAZ, base part and weld part. And, Fig. 5 (b) shows attenuation for the base part of creep damaged P92 steel specimens using a planar transducer (20 MHz nominal center frequency, 0.25 inch diameter). As shown in Fig. 5 (b), attenuation were increased as increasing their aging time. To find relation between the attenuation coefficients and the area fraction of cavities or precipitations, we have constructed attenuation versus hold time or aging time plots by measuring the attenuation coefficients at selected frequencies (25 MHz for the creep-fatigue damaged specimens and 19 MHz for the creep damaged specimens. Figures 6 (a) and (b) show plots of attenuation coefficients versus holding time and of area fraction of cavities , F^ (%), versus holding time, respectively, for the creep-fatigue damaged specimens. As shown in Fig. 6, both of the attenuation coefficients and the area fraction of cavities were increased as increasing their holding time. Figures 7 (a) and (b) show plots of attenuation coefficients versus aging time and of area fraction of precipitations versus aging time, respectively, for the creep damaged specimens. As shown in Fig. 7, both of the attenuation coefficients and the area fraction of cavities were increased as increasing their aging time.
o.i; 0.1 r last HAZNrtllast HAZNOMtH irutH /

' '/
/
y

ta.ts

S
r,

/ ,/

i " ^

fH U K 0.13 0.13

,'' /^ .-'
22

''

on

2i

25

31 Frequency ( M H z )

(a) (b) FIGURE 5. Calculated attenuations for the isothermal damaged specimens: (a) the creep-fatigue damaged specimens and (b) base part of the creep damaged specimens.

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200

400

500

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

Holding time (sec)

Holding Time (sec)

(a) (b) FIGURE 6. Measured (a) attenuation coefficients and (b) area fraction of cavities for the creep-fatigue damaged specimens.

3000

eOOO

9000

Aging Time 014

(b) FIGURE 7. Measured (a) attenuation coefficients and (b) area fraction of precipitations for the creep damaged specimens.

Sound Velocities Using the acquired multiple back surface echoes, we have measured average sound velocities of the isothermal aged P92 steel specimens. Figures 8 (a) and 9 (a) show measured average sound velocities of the creep-fatigue and the creep damaged specimens, respectively. As shown in Figs. 8 (a) and 9 (a), sound velocity was getting faster when their holding time and aging time increased. In the case of creep damaged specimens, hardness was increased up to 1600 hours of aging time and decreased after 1600 hours of aging time for both of the base part and the weld parts as shown Fig. 9 (b). However, hardness of the isothermal aged specimens decreased as increasing their holding time or aging time as shown in Figs. 8 (b) and 9 (b). From Figs. 8 and 9, we found that sound velocity is in an inverse proportion to hardness for the isothermal aged P92 specimens [3]. Relations between the Attenuations and the Cavities or the Precipitates From the measured attenuation coefficients, a , and the area fraction of cavities,F^, or precipitations, F^^, we have investigated the relations between attenuations and the cavities or precipitations of the isothermal aged P92 steel specimens. To investigate the relations, we have constructed plots of the attenuation coefficients versus the area fraction of cavities or precipitations as shown in Fig. 10 and performed power fitting. Eqs. (4), (5), and (6) show the power fitted equations for the creep-fatigue damaged specimens

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and the creep damaged base parts and weld parts respectively. Using the Eqs. (4), (5), and (6), we could predict the areafi-actionof cavities or precipitations of the isothermal aged P92 steel specimens by measuring their attenuations i7^=1.064xlO''(a""") F^^ = 5.911x10' ( a ' " " ) F^,= 1.445x10'(a""''*') (for creep-fatigue damage) (for creep damage : base) (for creep damage : weld) (4) (5) (6)

50

100

1000

200

400

600

80i

Holding time (sec)

Holding Time (sec)

(a) (b) FIGURE 8. Measured (a) sound velocities and (b) hardness of the creep-fatigue damaged specimens.

-Base -Weld

3000

6000

9000

12000

3000

6000

9000

12000

Aging Time (hr)

Aging Time(hr)

(a) (b) FIGURE 9. Measured (a) sound velocities and (b) hardness of the creep damaged specimens.

Area fraction of cavities (%)

Area fraction of precipitate (%)

(a) (b) (c) FIGURE 10. Relation between attenuations and area fraction of the cavities or the precipitates for (a) the creep-fatigue damaged specimens, and (b) base parts and (c) weld part of the creep damaged specimens.

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Relations between Sound Velocities and Hardness To evaluate hardness of the isothermal aged P92 steel specimens, we have applied the measured sound velocities because soimd velocity has a direct relation to the elastic modulus of the materials. Figure 11 shows relations between the sound velocities and hardness of the isothermal aged specimens. As shown in Fig. 11, the sound velocities have inversely proportional relations to the hardness. Also, Eqs. (7), (8), and (9) were power fitted equations for predicting hardness of the creep-fatigued damaged specimens and of base parts and weld parts of the creep damaged specimens, respectively. (for creep-fatigue damage) (7) (8) (9)

Hd =

3.005x10'(V'''')

(for creep damage : base) (for creep damage : weld)

if<i = 1 . 5 7 1 x l O ' ( F ' ' ' ' ) Prediction of Creep-fatigue Life Time

To evaluate the creep-fatigue life time of the isothermal aged P92 steel specimens nondestructively, we have investigated the relations between the attenuation coefficients or sound velocities and the creep-fatigue life time measured by destructive testing. Eqs. (10) and (11) show power fitted equations for predicting creep-fatigue lives of the isothermal aged P92 steel specimens using the attenuations and the sound velocities, respectively. Figures 12 show the comparison results of predicted creep-fatigue lives using Eqs. (10) and (11), respectively, to experimentally measured ones. As shown in Fig. 12, the predicted creep-fatigue lives agree well with those obtained by destructive test. The average errors of predicted lives by using attenuation and sound velocities were about 4.1% and 5.7%, respectively. N^=5.7524x{a)
(-3.9446)

(using attenuations) (using sound velocities)

(10) (11)

N^ = 2.05E^-'''>:
5.92 5.9 4^^

\.
3

5.98

\
Base Weld

I;:
Z 5.82 . 5. 5.78 5.76 5.74

"g 5.96

>
1

5.94 "^^

\^

Of

>

5.92

220 Hardness(Hu)

230 Hardness (Hv)

240

(b) (a) FIGURE 11. Relation between the sound velocities and hardness of (a) the creep-fatigue damaged specimens, and (b) the creep damaged specimens.

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5000

6000

7000

8000

9000 10000 11000 12000

5000

6000

7000

8000

9000

10000

11000

B(peiimental Ufe (Nf)

Bqieiimental Ufe (Nf)

(a) (b) FIGURE 12. Comparisons of the predicted creep-fatigue life time using (a) the attenuations and (b) sound velocities to experimentally measured ones.

SUMMARY In this study, we have evaluated the isothermal aged 9Cr-2W (P92) steel specimens using the attenuations and velocities of ultrasound. From the measured attenuations and velocities, we found that attenuations and area fraction of cavities or precipitates have proportional relations and sound velocity and hardness have inverse proportional relation for the isothermal aged P92 steel specimens. Furthermore, we have predicted creep-fatigue lives base on the measured attenuations and velocities. The average errors of the predicted life time by using ultrasonic attenuation and sound velocity were about 4.1% and 5.7%, respectively. Thus, we believe that ultrasonic parameters (attenuation and sound velocity) can be a good tool for evaluation of the isothermal aged P92 steel. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This work has been supported by KESRI (R-05-7-021), which is funded by MOCIE (Ministry of commerce, industry and energy)

REFERENCES
1. N. Adefris, Ashok Saxena and D.L. Mcdowell, "Creep-fatigue crack growth behavior in lCr-lMo-0.25V steel". Fatigue Fract. Engng. Mater. Struct Vol. 19, No. 4, pp.401-411, 1996. 2. S.L. Liu, Y.H. He, "Effect Hold Time on Fatigue Crack Growth Behavior in a Superalloy at High Temperature", Fatigue'99, Vol.4, pp.2159 ~ 2164. 3. B. Raj, B.K.Choudhary, R.K.Singh Raman. "Mechanical properties and non-destructive evaluation of chromium-molybdenum ferritic steels for steam generator application." IntemationalJoumal of Pressure Vessels and Piping 2004, 81, 521-534. 4. K. A, Choudhary BK, Jayakumar T, Bhanu Sankara Rao K, Raj B. Materials Science and Technology. 2003, 19, 637-641. 5. L . W Schmerr, Fundamentals of Ultrasonic Nondestructive Evaluation - A Modeling Approach, Plenum Press, New York and London, 1998.

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