5th International Conference on Mechanics and Materials in Design

Chapter IV: Welds at High Temperature (WELDON) in Design 1

REF: A0404.0401
FINITE ELEMENT CREEP FAILURE ANALYSES OF P91 LARGE
TENSILE CROSS-WELD SPECIMENS TESTED AT 625
O
C
T.H. Hyde
1
, A.A. Becker
1*
, W. Sun
1
, A. Yaghi
1
, A.Thomas
2
, and P. Seliger
2

1
School of Mechanical, Materials & Manufacturing Engineering
University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK
2
Siempelkamp, P.O. 10 02 63, D-01072 Dresden, Germany
Email:
(*)
a.a.becker@nottingham.ac.uk
SYNOPSIS
As part of a collaborative European project (Weldon), creep tests of large tensile cross-weld
specimens, which were machined from commercial thick-walled P91 welded pipes, were
carried out at 625
o
C. In order to determine the creep properties for the parent material, the
heat-affected zone and the weld metal, a series of uniaxial, notched bar, impression and
notched and waisted cross-weld specimen creep tests, at 625
o
C, were also performed from
which the creep properties for the P91 weld materials were obtained.
In this paper, the results of Finite Element creep and damage analyses of the corresponding
experimental creep rupture test of a P91 large, tensile, cross-weld specimen are presented,
using the material properties generated. A Kachanov type, one damage variable, multi-axial
material behaviour model was used in the creep analyses. The predictions of time-dependent
creep deformation, failure life and failure position for a large cross-weld specimen, which
subjected to a axial direction loading, were compared with the corresponding experimental
results, from which the validity of the modelling techniques employed can be evaluated.
Keywords: Creep; Damage; Failure analysis; P91, Large Cross-Weld Specimens

Nomenclature
A, n, m, B, , , material constants in damage law
HAZ, PM, WM heat-affected zone, parent material and weld metal, respectively
L
c
equivalent measuring length
MSR minimum creep strain rate
OD, WT outer diameter and wall thickness
S
ij
deviatoric stress
t, t
f
creep time and time at failure
c
min
c
ij
, & & creep strain rates and minimum creep strain rate

1
,
eq
,
r
maximum principal, equivalent and rupture stresses, respectively

nom
nominal stress
,
&
damage and damage rate

1. INTRODUCTION
The requirement for increased efficiency and reduced costs, of power plant piping systems,
has led to a need for the development and utilization of improved materials, for high
temperature component reliability, and the ongoing assessment of long term service of welds.
Porto-Portugal, 24-26 July 2006
Editors: J.F. Silva Gomes and Shaker A. Meguid
2
These are critical links in ensuring the long term safe, satisfactory and economic use of high
temperature power plant under creep conditions. Modified 9Cr (P91) steels have been used in
Europe since the early 1990s, replacing some of the components made from low alloy ferritic
steels; the high creep strength of P91 allows for the use of thinner walled components, which
results in them being less prone to thermal fatigue cracking [1]. Previous research on the high
temperature performance of welds has mainly focused on low alloy ferritic steels. To date,
relatively little creep rupture data and service evidence is available compared with lower alloy
steels for the welds formed from P91 steels.
Although the service histories of P91 pipelines are relatively short, some premature failures
have been identified, including Type IV cracking [e.g. 2] in welds. Effort has been made to
identify the causes and to minimise the risks of further failures [e.g. 3]. In general, a weld
contains three basic material features; the parent material (PM), weld metal (WM) and the
heat-affected zone (HAZ), the last of which may show at least two distinct regions, i.e. the
high temperature part of the HAZ and the lower temperature part of the HAZ [4]. These
regions relate to the cracking found, and the crack types are identified within the German
code [5]. Type IV cracking occurs in the lower temperature part of the HAZ near the
HAZ/parent material interface. Some fundamental research on the creep stress and failure
analyses of P91 pipe weldments using the finite element (FE) method has been carried out
[e.g. 6-8].
Cross weld creep and rupture testing is often used, due to its simplicity, to assist in the
possibility of weld failure during long term service. In general, the end result is a failure time
and failure position within the weld and generally, no creep strain data are recorded. This
cross weld specimen life can be compared to the parent material data, ideally from the same
cast, to identify the weld weakening effect, and possible failure modes of the welds. Some
analytical, numerical and experimental studies [e.g. 9-12] have been carried out. Again, the
majority of these are related to low alloy ferritic welds.
Within the experimental programme, which forms part of a collaborative European project
(Weldon) [13], creep tests of large, tensile, cross-weld specimens and pressurised, welded
pipe vessels, which were manufactured from commercial thick-walled P91 pipes, were carried
out at 625
o
C, at Siempelkamp (SPG). In order to determine the creep properties for the parent
material, the heat-affected zone and the weld metal, uniaxial, notched bar, impression, and
notched and waisted, cross-weld specimen creep tests, at 625
o
C, were performed by other
partners in the Weldon Consortium. Based on the test data, the creep properties for the P91
weld materials were obtained [14].
In this paper, the results of FE creep and damage analyses of two creep rupture tests of the
P91 large, tensile, cross-weld specimens are presented, using the material properties
generated. A Kachanov type, one damage variable, multi-axial material behaviour model, was
used in the creep analyses. The predictions of time-dependent creep deformation, failure life
and failure positions were compared with the corresponding experimental results, from which
the validity of the modelling techniques employed, can be evaluated.

2. CREEP TESTING AND TEST RESULTS AT 625OC
2.1 P91 Weld and Large Cross-Weld Specimen
The parent pipe material is a typical, as received P91 pipe steel, designated as A-369 FP91,
using the ASTM code. The pipe has an outer diameter of OD =145mm and a wall thickness
of WT =50mm. The full circumferential pipe weldment was welded in the 1G position (in
5th International Conference on Mechanics and Materials in Design
Chapter IV: Welds at High Temperature (WELDON) in Design 3
which the pipe rotates) using TIG for the root pass and SMAW for filling the rest of the joint,
with a Chromo 9V weld metal, followed by a post weld heat treatment (PWHT) of 2 hours at
760
o
C, with an air cool. The pipe weld dimensions and a macro-section of the pipe weld are
shown in Figs. 1(a) and 1(c), respectively. The chemical compositions of the 9Cr parent steel
and the Chromo 9V weld metal are shown in Table 1. Detailed micro-structural investigations
and hardness variations across the weld before testing have been performed. These indicate
that the width of the HAZs in the test weld is about 2.4 to 3mm.


Table 1 Chemical compositions of the P91 parent material and Chromo 9V weld metal (wt%)
Material C Mn Si N Cr Mo Nb Ni V
PM 0.109 0.443 0.307 0.042 8.350 0.948 0.165 -- 0.210
WM* 0.09 0.6 0.2 0.04 9.0 1.1 0.05 0.8 0.2
* Average compositions from welding consumable manufacturers

Sections cut from the welded pipe were used for manufacturing large tensile specimens. The
configuration and dimensions of the large cross-weld specimen are shown in Fig. 1(b) and
Fig. 2, respectively.

Fig. 2 Dimensions (mm) of the large tensile cross-weld creep test specimens.

Porto-Portugal, 24-26 July 2006
Editors: J.F. Silva Gomes and Shaker A. Meguid
4
The welded zone is located in the middle of the uniform section of the length of 245 mm, the
cross section of which is 50 mm 20 mm. After manufacture of the test specimens, pre test
examination was performed to define the material status at the beginning of the tests (material
characterisation). These examinations include geometrical measurement, NDE (X-ray),
replica examination and hardness measurement across the weld zone surface. Before the tests
were started the dimensions of the test specimens were measured accurately.

2.2 Experimental Testing and Test Results
The creep deformation in the loading direction was measured between the clamping bolts (a
distances of 425 mm), Fig. 2, by inductive position transducers. According to the procedure
described in DIN EN 10291 [15], an equivalent measuring length of L
c
=227,2 mm was
calculated for the determination of integral strain across the uniform length of the tensile
specimen.
A purpose built high temperature test rig, with axial tensile loading and heating systems, was
used for the large tensile cross-weld tests, and the axial loading was applied through a
hydraulic cylinder. Three thermocouples were welded onto the specimen surface and shielded
from the radiant heat of the heating cells that surrounded the specimens. The temperatures
were measured by 4-6 type K thermocouples. Detailed test procedures used are given in [16].
A creep rupture test, subjected to axial loading corresponding to mean axial (nominal) stress
on the uniform cross-section of
nom
=105 MPa, was performed. The failure life and failure
position obtained are given in Table 2. The measured deformation (between the clamping
bolts) versus time curve is shown in Fig. 3(a) and the converted integral (mean) strain curve
of the uniform section are shown in Fig. 3(b). Failure was found to occur in the fine-grained
HAZ region, i.e the Type IV position, as shown in Figs. 4 and 5.
Table 2 - P91 large cross-weld tensile creep test at 625
o
C
Nominal Stress
(MPa)
Failure Life
(hrs)
Failure Location Comments
105 2,898 Fine-grained HAZ
Type IV
Failure as expected
(planned durarion 5000 hrs)


Fig. 3(a) Load direction deformation measured between the clamping bolts of
the large cross-weld specimen at
nom
=105 MPa tested at 625
o
C.
0
1
2
3
4
0 1000 2000 3000 4000
Time (hrs)
T
o
t
a
l

D
e
f
o
r
m
a
t
i
o
n

(
m
m
)
5th International Conference on Mechanics and Materials in Design
Chapter IV: Welds at High Temperature (WELDON) in Design 5





Detailed microstructure investigation and hardness examination before and after the creep
testing and description of damage position of the large tensile specimens have been
documented in [16].

3. MATERIAL BEHAVIOUR MODELS AND PROPERTIES
3.1 Constitutive Equations
The material constitutive equations used in FE damage modelling are of a Kachanov, single
damage variable type [17,18] creep damage law:

0
0.5
1
1.5
2
0 1000 2000 3000 4000
Time (hrs)
T
o
t
a
l

S
t
r
a
i
n

(
%
)
Fig. 3(b) Integral (mean) strain of the uniform section of the large
cross-weld specimen, converted from the deformations between the clamping bolts.
Porto-Portugal, 24-26 July 2006
Editors: J.F. Silva Gomes and Shaker A. Meguid
6
m
eq
ij
n
eq
cr
ij
t
S
1
A
2
3

= & (1a)

m r
t
) 1 (
B

= & (1b)
and

eq 1 r
) 1 ( + = (1c)
where
eq
,
1
and
r
are the equivalent, maximum principal and rupture stresses, respectively.
(0 < <1) is the damage variable, A, n, m, B, and are material constants and (0 <
<1) is a material constant which is related to the multi-axial stress state behaviour of the
material.
The one-variable damage model, equations (1), has been widely used in the FE creep damage
modelling of welds [e.g. 19]. Although the damage parameter may not have a direct
physical link to the actual damage in the material, it is suggested that the model can
accurately predict both the creep strains and the failure times if the material degradation
during creep is dominated by only one physical mechanism, e.g. cavitations damage [20]. Bi-
axial creep tests have shown [18] that equations (1) are capable of accurately representing the
stress dependence of the creep strain-rate components, over a wide range of stress and
temperature, for a number of metallic alloys. In addition, validity of the model has been
confirmed by comparing FE predictions with the results of low alloy ferritic CrMoV welded
components [e.g. 19]. Although the creep mechanism for P91 may differ in some respects
from that for CrMoV, it is felt that the single parameter Kachanov model should be adequate
for data characterisation for the current purpose.

3.2 Material Properties
In order to determine the creep properties for the parent material, the heat-affected zone and
the weld metal, a series of uniaxial, notched bar, impression, and notched and waisted cross-
weld specimen creep tests, at 625
o
C, were performed. The uniaxial material constants for the
parent material and weld metal were determined from conventional uniaxial creep test data,
while the tri-axial stress state parameters for parent and weld materials were determined from
the notched bar rupture test results. For the HAZ materials, the full set of material constants in
the material behaviour model were determined from the results of impression creep tests of
the HAZ materials, in conjunction with the creep damage modelling of creep rupture tests of
cross-weld specimens. The material constants thus obtained, for the parent material, weld
metal and HAZ of the P91 weldment, at 625
o
C, generated based on the creep test data, are
given in Table 3. Detailed procedures for determining the material properties can be seen in
[14].
Table 3 Constants in damage constitutive equations, for parent material,
weld metal and HAZ at 625
o
C ( in MPa and t in hrs)
Material A n m B
PM 9.016 10
-27
10.286 0 1.258 10
-25
9.5 9.914 0.5
HAZ 3.0 10
-26
10.286 0 1.15 10
-16
9.5 5.7 0.5
WM 1.782 10
-28
10.836 0 9.519 10
-26
12.5 9.874 0.6

5th International Conference on Mechanics and Materials in Design
Chapter IV: Welds at High Temperature (WELDON) in Design 7
4. FE MODELLING AND FAILURE PREDICTIONS
4.1 FE Analyses
Equations (1) have been implemented within ABAQUS [21]. In the FE analyses, for the one
variable equations, material failure at a point is defined by =1. Damage calculations were
continued, until the failure damage level, i.e., 1, was achieved in a number of elements
through the cross-section of the specimen. Following this, it has been shown [e.g. 22] that
remaining creep time, before complete failure occurs, is very small, compared to the total
creep time. Hence, the time to achieve a level of 1 in a small number of elements can be
taken to be a close approximation to the failure time for the specimen as a whole.
For simplicity, in this work, only a symmetrical quarter of the uniform section of the cross-
weld specimens was modelled. A 3D mesh used for creep damage analyses of the large cross-
weld specimens is shown in Fig. 6. It should be noted that the width of the weld metal on the
bottom and top surfaces is not straight (elliptical like), due to the weld geometry (i.e. a butt
weld in a thick-walled pipe), as can be seen in Figs. 4. Uniform stress loading,
nom
, was
applied to the end of the model, Fig. 6.

Fig. 6 FE mesh generated for a quarter of the uniform section of the large
cross-weld specimens. {y-z} - plane of symmetry in loading direction;
{x-y} plane of symmetry in thickness direction.

nom

x
z
y


4.2 Results
The predicted failure lifetime obtained for the 105 MPa test is 2,427 hrs, which is about 20%
shorter than the corresponding experimental failure life. Damage contour, at a time close to
failure of the large cross-weld specimen is presented in Fig. 7. It can be seen that the high
damage in concentrated into the HAZ, and was found to occur close to the parent material
side. This is in agreement with the failure positions observed from experiments.
The axial direction mean strains with time, calculated by the total deformations accumulated
during creep at the loading end, are shown in Fig. 8, in which the results obtained from the
experiments are also shown. It can be seen that the predicted curve fits reasonably well with
the experimental curve when creep time, t, is less than about 1,200 hrs, but is much higher
than the experimental curve when t is greater than about 1200 hrs. Deformation contours, at
times close to failure for the large cross-weld specimen, in the x and z-directions, are
presented in Figs. 9(a) and 9(b), respectively.
Life prediction was also carried out, using a steady-state approach, obtained with the Norton
creep law, i.e.
ij
1 n
eq
c
ij
S A
2
3

= & (2)
Porto-Portugal, 24-26 July 2006
Editors: J.F. Silva Gomes and Shaker A. Meguid
8

Figs. 7 Damage contour at a time close to failure of the
large cross-weld specimen at
nom
=105 MPa.





Figs. 9 Deformation (mm) contours at times close to failure of
the large cross-weld specimenat
nom
=105 MPa.
(a) x (load) direction
(b) z (width) direction


0
0.5
1
1.5
2
0 1000 2000 3000 4000
Time (hrs)
S
t
r
a
i
n

(
%
)
Tested
Predicted
Fig. 8 Integral (mean) strain of the uniform section predicted from FE analysis,
compared with that obtained from experiment at
nom
=105 MPa.
5th International Conference on Mechanics and Materials in Design
Chapter IV: Welds at High Temperature (WELDON) in Design 9
where the peak rupture stresses,
P
s s r ,
which has the same form as that of equation (1c), is
used, in conjunction with the uniaxial rupture equation for the material, derived from
equations (1) [e.g. 23], i.e.

+
=
) )( 1 ( B
1
t
P
s s , r
f
(3)

The failure life is taken to be the shortest time obtained using the peak rupture stresses in the
parent, HAZ and weld material regions in equation (3) and the material properties given in
Table 2. The position at which the peak rupture stress, which results in the shortest predicted
failure time, occurs, is taken to be the failure location; the results obtained are given in Table
4. It can be seen that consistent failure locations were obtained, but the steady-state
predictions produce conservative (shorter) failure life results, compared to those predicted
from corresponding damage analyses. The steady-state rupture stress contours for
nom
=105
and 85 MPa are shown in Figs. 10(a) and 10(b), respectively.

Table 4 - Failure life predicted from steady-state peak rupture stress,
compared with the corresponding result from damage analysis
Damage Steady-State
t
f
(hrs) Position
r
p
t
f
(hrs) Position
2,427 HAZ near PM 111 1,915 HAZ near PM


Figs. 10 Steady-state rupture stress contours in the weld region of the
large cross-weld specimen at
mon
=105 MPa.


5. DISCUSSION
A major advantage of the creep rupture testing using large size cross-weld specimens, over
the use of the commonly used, much smaller sized cross-weld specimens (e.g. cylindrical,
with ~8mm in diameter), is that the large specimens more realistically represent the features
of the macroscopic, bulk behaviour of the weld metal and its effect on the failure behaviour
of practical commercial welds, such as those in thick-walled main steam pipelines of power
plants. However, such tests have to be performed using specialised test rigs with much higher
costs.
With the material properties generated for the P91 weldment, at 625
o
C, the failure lifetime
predicted from FE analysis for the 105 MPa specimen test is about 20% shorter than the
corresponding failure life obtained from experiment, showing reasonable accuracy in life
prediction. Also, the failure positions are predicted to be in the HAZ near the parent material
side, which is consistent with the Type IV failure observed from the experiments. In addition,
predicted mean axial strain curve shows a similar trend to that of the experimental curve.
Porto-Portugal, 24-26 July 2006
Editors: J.F. Silva Gomes and Shaker A. Meguid
10
Steady-state prediction produces consistent failure location, but conservative failure lifetime
result, as compared to those predicted from damage analysis.
The creep rupture life obtained from the large cross-weld specimen test is plotted with the
rupture data for the parent material, weld metal and the smaller (cylindrical, 8.66mm in
diameter) cross-weld specimen tests [14], together with the P91 mean data, for comparison in
Fig. 11. It can be seen that the failure life for the large cross-weld specimen at 105 MPa is
about half of that for the parent material at the same stress level, showing significant life
reduction. A better assessment could be made if more creep rupture data, from large cross-
weld tests, were available.

It should be noted that, the uniaxial creep properties for the weld metal were determined using
the results of only two uniaxial creep tests, one of which is still ongoing. This may lead to
some degree of inaccuracy in the weld metal properties determined; usually, three or more
uniaxial creep tests, for the weld metal, could be performed and used for this purpose. More
creep tests may be performed in the future.
Acknowledgements:
The authors wish to acknowledge the EU financial support through a WELDON project
(GRD2-2000-30363) and ENSA (Dr Pedro Veron) for supplying the test materials.

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o
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5th International Conference on Mechanics and Materials in Design
Chapter IV: Welds at High Temperature (WELDON) in Design 11
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