Thermomechanical fatigue in single crystal superalloys

Thermomechanical fatigue (TMF) is a mechanism of deformation which is growing in importance due to the efficiency of modern cooling systems and the manner in which turbines and associated turbomachinery are now being operated. Unfortunately, at the present time, relatively little research has been carried out particularly on TMF of single crystal (SX) superalloys, probably because the testing is significantly more challenging than the more standard creep and low cycle fatigue (LCF) cases; the scarcity and relative expense of the material are additional factors. In this paper, the authors summarise their experiences on the TMF testing of SX superalloys, built up over several years. Emphasis is placed upon describing: (i) the nature of the testing method, the challenges involved in ensuring that an given testing methodology is representative of engine conditions (ii) the behaviour of a typical Re-containing second generation alloy such as CMSX-4, and its differing performance in out-of-phase/ in-phase loading and crystallographic orientation and (iii) the differences in behaviour displayed by the Re-containing alloys and new Re-free variants such as STAL15. It is demonstrated that the Re-containing superalloys are prone to different degradation mechanisms involving for example microtwinning, TCP precipitation and recrystallisation. The performance of STAL15 is not too inferior to alloys such as CMSX-4, suggesting that creep resistance itself does not correlate strongly with resistance to TMF. The implications for alloy design efforts are discussed.