On the detection of creep damage in a directionally solidified nickel base superalloy using nonlinear ultrasound

A limited experimental study was conducted to investigate the feasibility of using nonlinear ultrasonic technique for assessing the remaining creep life of a directionally solidified (DS) nickel base superalloy. Specimens of this alloy were subjected to creep testing at different stress levels. Creep tests were periodically interrupted at different creep life fractions to conduct transmission ultrasonic tests to explore if a correlation exists between the higher order harmonics and the accumulated creep damage in the samples. A strong and unique correlation was found between the third order harmonic of the transmitted wave and the exhausted creep life fraction. Preliminary data also show an equally strong correlation between plastic deformation accumulated during monotonic loading and the second harmonic of the transmitted ultrasonic wave while no correlation was found between plastic strain and the third order harmonic. Thus, the nonlinear ultrasonic technique can potentially distinguish between damage due to plastic deformation and creep deformation.