A superalloy, or high-performance alloy, is an alloy that exhibits excellent mechanical strength at high temperatures. Superalloy development has been driven primarily by the aerospace and power industries. This compilation of papers from the Twelfth International Symposium on Superalloys, held from September 9-13, 2012, offers the most recent technical information on this class of materials.

This dissertation was produced at the Division of Solid Mechanics at Linköping University and is part of a research project, which comprises modelling, microstructure investigations and material testing of cast nickel-base superalloys. The main objective of this work was to deepen the understanding of the fracture behaviour of single-crystal nickel-base superalloys and to develop a model to predict the fatigue crack growth behaviour. Frequently, crack growth in these materials has been observed to follow one of two distinct cracking modes; Mode I like cracking perpendicular to the loading direction or crystallographic crack growth on the octahedral {111}-planes, where the latter is associated with an increased fatigue crack growth rate. Thus, it is of major importance to account for this behaviour in component life prediction. Consequently, a model for the prediction of the transition of cracking modes and the correct active crystallographic plane, i.e. the crack path, and the crystallographic crack growth rate has been developed. This model is based on the evaluation of appropriate crack driving forces using three-dimensional finite-element simulations. A special focus was given towards the influence of the crystallographic orientation on the fracture behaviour. Further, a model to incorporate residual stresses in the crack growth modelling is presented. All modelling work is calibrated and validated by experiments on different specimen geometries with different crystallographic orientations. This dissertation consists of two parts, where Part I gives an introduction and background to the field of research, while Part II consists of six appended papers. Die vorliegende Dissertation wurde in der Abteilung für Festigkeitslehre an der Universität von Linköping erstellt und ist Teil eines Forschungsprojektes, welches Modellierung, Mikrostrukturuntersuchungen und Materialtests von gegossenen nickelbasierten Superlegierungen umfasst. Das Hauptziel dieser Arbeit war es, das Verständnis des Bruchverhaltens von einkristallinen Superlegierungen auf Nickelbasis zu vertiefen und ein Modell zur Vorhersage des Wachstumsverhaltens von Ermüdungsrissen zu entwickeln. Es wurde beobachtet, dass das Risswachstum in diesen Materialien einem von zwei unterschiedlichen Rissmodi folgt; Modus I Rissfortschritt senkrecht zur Belastungsrichtung oder kristallographisches Risswachstum auf den oktaedrischen f111g-Ebenen, wobei letzteres mit einer erhöhten Ermüdungsrisswachstumsrate verbunden ist. Somit ist es von grosser Bedeutung dieses Verhalten in der Lebensdauervorhersage einer Komponente zu berücksichtigen. Demzufolge wurde ein Modell für die Vorhersage des Übergangs zwischen den Rissmodi und der korrekten aktiven kristallographischen Ebene, d.h. des Risspfades, sowie der kristallographischen Risswachstumsrate erarbeitet. Dieses Modell basiert auf geeigneten Rissantriebskräften, welche mit Hilfe dreidimensionaler Finite-Elemente-Simulationen berechnet werden. Im Fokus stand insbesondere der Einuss der kristallographischen Orientierung auf das Bruchverhalten. Ausserdem wird ein Modell zur Berücksichtigung von Restspannungen in der Risswachstumsmodellierung präsentiert. Alle Modellierungsarbeiten wurden durch Experimente an verschiedenen Probengeometrien mit unterschiedlichen kristallographischen Orientierungen kalibriert und validiert. Diese Dissertation besteht aus zwei Teilen, wobei Teil I aus einer Einführung und einem Hintergrund in das Forschungsgebiet und Teil II aus sechs beigefügten Forschungsartikeln besteht.

Nickel Base Single Crystals Across Length Scales is addresses the most advanced knowledge in metallurgy and computational mechanics and how they are applied to superalloys used as bare materials or with a thermal barrier coating system. Joining both aspects, the book helps readers understand the mechanisms driving properties and their evolution from fundamental to application level. These guidelines are helpful for students and researchers who wish to understand issues and solutions, optimize materials, and model them in a cross-check analysis, from the atomistic to component scale. The book is useful for students and engineers as it explores processing, characterization and design. - Provides an up-to-date overview on the field of superalloys - Covers the relationship between microstructural evolution and mechanical behavior at high temperatures - Discusses both basic and advanced modeling and characterization techniques - Includes case studies that illustrate the application of techniques presented in the book

Written by the leading experts in computational materials science, this handy reference concisely reviews the most important aspects of plasticity modeling: constitutive laws, phase transformations, texture methods, continuum approaches and damage mechanisms. As a result, it provides the knowledge needed to avoid failures in critical systems udner mechanical load. With its various application examples to micro- and macrostructure mechanics, this is an invaluable resource for mechanical engineers as well as for researchers wanting to improve on this method and extend its outreach.

Superalloys are unique high-temperature materials used in gas turbine engines, which display excellent resistance to mechanical and chemical degradation. This book introduces the metallurgical principles which have guided their development. Suitable for graduate students and researchers, it includes exercises and additional resources at www.cambridge.org/9780521859042.