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Characterisation of creep behaviour using the power law model in copper alloy

Article in JOURNAL OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING AND SCIENCES · March 2017

DOI: 10.15282/jmes.11.1.2017.9.0230

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Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Sciences (JMES)
ISSN (Print): 2289-4659; e-ISSN: 2231-8380
Volume 11, Issue 1, pp. 2503-2510, March 2017
© Universiti Malaysia Pahang, Malaysia
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15282/jmes.11.1.2017.9.0230

Characterisation of creep behaviour using the power law model in copper alloy

M.I.M. Ahmad1, 2*, J.L. Curiel Sosa1 and J.A. Rongong1

1
Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Sheffield, Sir Frederick
Mappin Building, Mappin Street, S1 3JD Sheffield, United Kingdom
*Email: [email protected]
2
Department of Mechanical & Materials Engineering,
Faculty of Engineering and Build Environments, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia,
43600 UKM Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia

ABSTRACT

This paper presents a numerical strategy for the characterisation of the creep behaviour
model of the copper alloy, which is widely used in aircraft applications under creep
conditions. The high possibility of the material failing, while operating under load at an
elevated temperature, has led to the important study of the creep lifetime prediction
analysis, by presenting the Norton’s rule based on the Power-law model to describe the
secondary creep behaviour of the material. In order to demonstrate the nature of the creep
formulation, the SOL 400 modules from MSC Nastran 2014 are implemented in order to
conduct the uniaxial tensile test in 2000 N of applied load and 473 K of temperature
condition. As a result, the exponential curve is formed from the relationship of the creep
strain rate and stress, with a 5.1% error based on the value of the stress exponent, n,
between the simulation and experimental results and this was still be acceptable because
it was relatively small due to the formulation in the simulation. Consequently, a relation
of the creep rate curve can then be plotted with respect to the load steps and the variation
patterns due to the stress factor also being discussed. Therefore, the results show a good
agreement, which indicates the capability of this model to give an accurate and precise
estimation of the secondary creep behaviour of the materials.

Keywords: Characterisation; Norton’s rule; secondary creep; creep strain rate curve.

INTRODUCTION

Since the 1950s, material engineers and engineering industry designers, particularly in
the aircraft applications industry, have been concerned with the structural failure analysis
in an attempt to improve flight safety. During the aircraft design process, many aspects
need to be considered, and thus in order to assure aircraft safety, the material selection of
the plane must be able to survive high stress and temperature environments for extended
periods of time. When assessing the resistance of materials to deformation and failure
under certain loads at high or low temperatures over long periods of time, particular
attention must be given to a phenomenon known as creep. Creep is the permanent
deformation and inelastic response of materials loaded with constant applied stress and a
high temperature with a time function dependence [1, 2]. The main cause of metal creep
failure is nucleation, which is the growth and coalescence of cavities on the grain
boundaries [3-5]. By modelling the behaviour of materials in a constitutive equation, the

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 Characterisation of creep behaviour using the power law model in copper alloy

formation of the void, void growth, coalescence, micro-crack and crack propagation can
be predicted mathematically.
In order to predict deformations and evaluate the lifetime of creep materials
behaviour, many previous researchers used a numerical approach by implementing a
finite element method (FEM) in their analyses. For example, a hyperbolic sine model is
used as a constitutive model for the high temperature creep of ASTM A992 steel, in which
this is fitted to the experimental creep data [1]. The isothermal creep method is established
in order to describe the high-temperature creep behaviour of the SA-508 metal material
and serves as a reference for the safety assessment of the components of reactor pressure
vessels [6]. Then, the creep behaviour of the 2024-T3 aluminium alloy at high
temperatures (150-200 °C) has been described numerically by implementing the Power
Law model [7]. Moreover, to validate the results from the computational approach, the
experimental creep test is being prepared as a benchmark. Austenitic stainless steels
(316LN) with different batches are subjected to numerous creep tests at various stresses
and temperatures between 525 °C and 750 °C up to nearly 50000 hours [8]. As a result,
the extrapolation of the stress-lifetime curves obtained at high stress leads to a massive
overestimation of lifetimes at low stress and the model proposed by Riedel is
implemented for comparison purposes. Hence, much research effort needs to be invested
now in developing appropriate constitutive equations to solve the numerical shortcomings
of the creep problem [9]. In this study, a copper alloy, which is widely used in the
fabrication of aircraft structure components, is investigated to characterise the secondary
(or steady state) creep behaviour using Norton’s rule, based on the Power Law model
towards the formation of the material creep behaviour. The capability of this model
becomes a driving force to develop the numerical analysis of the creep problem, and the
experimental data obtained in order to validate the results.

METHODS AND MATERIALS

Creep Experiment
A uniaxial creep test was performed in accordance with ASTM D 2990, with a constant
external force and temperature condition. The material properties and the dimensions of
the specimen for the creep test are shown in Table 1 [10].

Table 1. Material properties and dimensions.

Young Modulus, E 120 GPa

Poison Ratio, v 0.36
Load force, P 2000 N
Temperature, T 473 K
Dimensions 150 mm × 25 mm × 10 mm

Simulation Analysis
Computational work was conducted using the MSC Nastran 2014 software to study the
characterisation of secondary creep behaviour in the tensile creep test simulation. This
software offers SOL 400 modules, which have the nonlinear capabilities to analyse a wide
variety of structural problems subjected to geometric and material nonlinearity. In order
to model the creep characteristics, a few options need to be considered in the analysis
such as the CREEP option to identify the creep time behaviour of the material, the
MATVP option to describe the materials properties and the NLSTEP bulk data entry for

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 Ahmad et al. / Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Sciences 11(1) 2017 2503-2510

controlling the time integration in the finite element program. The flow diagram of the
non-linear problem analysis for the simulation work is shown in Figure 1. This analysis
is a quasi-static analysis, using adaptive time stepping for real-time creep, with geometric
and material nonlinearity due to large strain and creep. The uniaxial tensile creep test is
illustrated computationally in the 2D-analysis and the discretisation is shown in Figure 2.
This model consists of 36, 4-node plane strain elements and 49 nodes.

Figure 1. Flow diagram of the non-linear creep analysis.

Figure 2. Sketch of the specimen geometry with a 2D-discretisation of the plane strain.
A boundary condition was fixed at the z-axis (z-axis=0).

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 Characterisation of creep behaviour using the power law model in copper alloy

MATHEMATICAL MODELLING

Conventional creep behaviour is based on a Von Mises creep potential with an isotropic
behaviour described by the equivalent creep law:

𝜀̇𝑐 = 𝑓(𝜎, 𝜀 𝑐 , 𝑇, 𝑡) (1)

The material behaviour is therefore described by:

̅
𝜕𝜎
∆𝜀 𝑐 = 𝜀̇𝑐 𝜕𝜎′ ∆𝑡 (2)

̅
𝜕𝜎
where 𝜕𝜎′ is the outward normal to the current Von Mises stress surface and 𝜀̇ 𝑐 is the
equivalent creep strain rate. There are two numerical procedures used in implementing
creep behaviour. The default is an explicit procedure in which the above relationship is
implemented in the program by an initial strain technique. In addition, a pseudo-load
vector due to the creep strain increment is added in the stiffness equation as:

𝐾∆𝑢 = ∆𝑃 + ∫𝑉 𝛽 𝑇 𝐷∆𝜀 𝑐 𝑑𝑣 (3)

where K is the stiffness matrix, ∆𝑢 is the incremental displacement, ∆𝑃 represents the

incremental nodal force vector and ∫𝑉 𝛽 𝑇 𝐷∆𝜀 𝑐 𝑑𝑣 is the pseudo-load vector due to the
creep strain increment in which 𝛽 is the strain displacement relation and D is the stress-
strain relation [11].

The dependence of the equivalent creep strain rate on any independent parameter can be
given directly in the power law form. The equivalent creep strain rate is:

𝜀̇ 𝑐 = 𝐴𝜎 𝑛 (𝜀 𝑐 )𝑚 𝑇 𝑝 (𝑞𝑡 𝑞−1 ) (4)

where A, p and q are the material constants, n is a stress exponent, and 𝜎, 𝜀 𝑐 , T and t are
the equivalent stress, equivalent creep strain, temperature and time, respectively. For this
analysis, only the stress and temperature parameters will be identified. Equation 5 is
simplified as:

𝜀̇ 𝑐 = 𝐴𝜎 𝑛 𝑇 𝑝 (5)

The expression, 𝜀̇𝑐 ∝ 𝜎 𝑛 , is sometimes called Norton’s law, and provides the
basic power law relationships, which have been widely used to describe high-temperature
creep behaviour. By referring to the experimental data [10], all parameters are
determined, in which the value of A = 6.3167E-14, n = 5.6546 and p = 0.3.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Mesh Convergence
In order to identify the adequate size of meshing, a mesh convergence curve was created
through the analysis. Figure 3 shows the mesh convergence curve that exhibits the best
relationship between the stress and the number of elements of the specimen structure in
the finite element analysis. The stress increases with an increasing number of elements,

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 Ahmad et al. / Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Sciences 11(1) 2017 2503-2510

until up to 30 elements; it starts to converge and reaches a stable form. Therefore, 36

elements were chosen in this analysis to achieve mesh convergence stability and to obtain
a symmetrical geometry number of elements.

Figure 3. Mesh convergence curve.

Power Law of Creep

Firstly, the relationship of the creep strain rate and stress was analysed as shown in
Figure 4. From the graph, the exponential curve is formed, which actually expresses a
Norton’s Law relation. The creep strain rate of the copper alloy increased with the
increasing of stress respectively [12]. Theoretically, the function of the Power Law creep
depends on the variable of the material constant, A, and the stress exponent, n, of the
material [13]. An experimental result was also plotted in the same graph to clarify the
accuracy of the simulation’s results. The graph clearly shows a similar pattern of
exponential curves between the simulation and experimental results. The value of the
stress exponent, n, between both methods was compared to identify the precision of the
result, thus bringing the 5.1% error, and this was still acceptable because it was relatively
small due to the formulation in the simulation.

Figure 4. Power Law relation between the creep strain rate and stress for the
experimental and simulation results.

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 Characterisation of creep behaviour using the power law model in copper alloy

Stress Dependence Analysis

Secondly, in order to determine the secondary creep behaviour of the copper alloy, the
creep rate curve relationship between the creep strain and creep strain rate with respect to
time (load steps) was plotted (as shown in Figures 5 and 6). Figure 5 shows the schematic
creep curves at the same temperature that represents the secondary creep strain with load
steps. In order to see the influence of the stress in the creep strain formation, the values
of stress were manipulated through the analysis and the results obtained are plotted
together. By increasing the stress respectively, the secondary creep strain increases and
the rupture lifetime of the material decreases on increment of the stress. The pattern of
the plotted creep curves shows similar results to those studied by [1, 7, 14-17], which
imitate the secondary creep regime. Moreover, the creep strain rate forms an
approximately steady state as shown in Figure 6. The stresses applied typically affect the
formation of the creep strain rate and also the rupture lifetime of the material.

Figure 5. Creep strain as a function of the time/load steps at a temperature of

473 K.

Figure 6. Creep strain rate as a function of the time/load steps at a temperature of 473 K.

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 Ahmad et al. / Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Sciences 11(1) 2017 2503-2510

CONCLUSIONS

This study is to characterise the secondary creep behaviour of the copper alloy using the
Power-law as a constitutive creep model. To develop this case study, a computational
approach was presented in the uniaxial creep test with constant stresses and temperature
condition. As a result, the graph of the creep strain rate against stress was identified as
being representative of the secondary creep behaviour, and with 5.1% of error, there was
good agreement between the simulation model and the experimental results. Moreover,
the graphs for the creep strain and the creep strain rate with load steps were presented,
which represent the secondary creep regime. The variations of the stresses give the
primary factor that affects the formation of the creep strain and also the rupture life of the
material. The highest value of stresses creates a significant impact toward the creep strain
and shortens the failure lifetime of the material. Therefore, the simulation model, based
on a Norton’s Law equation, provides the basics for the Power Law relationships that
have been widely used to describe secondary creep behaviour. In order to develop the
knowledge of creep failure, the estimation creep model will be drawn up to predict the
creep damage behaviour by considering the creep crack initiations and the creep crack
growth model of materials.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors would like to express their gratitude to the University of Sheffield, Universiti
Kebangsaan Malaysia and Ministry of Education Malaysia through the fund of LSF and
SLAB-SLAI (KPM-UKM) for supporting this research project.

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