Crystal plasticity-based creep model for solution-strengthened nickel-based alloys

Nickel-based alloys are widely used in high temperature applications due to their favourable properties at extreme conditions. However, due to their high cost, efforts are being relentlessly made to extend the useful life of the components made from these alloys. Such life extension requires reliable constitutive models with detailed quantitative understanding of the factors contributing to property variations. Micromechanical analysis along with multi-scale methods can be a key enabler in developing the required high fidelity models. Particularly for properties such as creep that require long term prediction, accelerated tests with empirical models may prove insufficient. Thus, in the present work, a crystal plasticity-based creep model has been developed for solution strengthened nickel-based alloys. Through this model, the effect of microstructural variations in grain orientation, size, etc. on the secondary creep strain rate can be captured. The performance of the model is evaluated against creep data of alloy 617.