Creep deformation mechanisms in modified 9Cr–1Mo steel

Modified 9Cr–1Mo (Grade 91) steel is currently considered as a candidate material for reactor pressure vessels (RPVs) and reactor internals for the Very High Temperature Reactor (VHTR). The tensile creep behavior of modified 9Cr–1Mo steel (Grade 91) was studied in the temperature range of 873–1023 K and stresses between 35 MPa and 350 MPa. Analysis of creep results yielded stress exponents of ∼9–11 in the higher stress regime and ∼1 in the lower stress regime. The high stress exponent in the power-law creep regime was rationalized by invoking the concept of threshold stress, which represents the lattice diffusion controlled dislocation climb process. Without threshold stress compensation, the activation energy was 510 ± 51 kJ/mol, while after correcting for the threshold stress, the activation energy decreased to 225 ± 24 kJ/mol. This value is close to the activation energy for lattice self-diffusion in α-Fe. Threshold stress calculations were performed for the high stress regime at all test temperatures. The calculated threshold stress showed a strong dependence on temperature. The creep behavior of Grade 91 steel was described by the modified Bird–Mukherjee–Dorn relation. The rate controlling creep deformation mechanism in the high stress regime was identified as the edge dislocation climb with a stress exponent of n = 5. On the other hand, the deformation mechanism in the Newtonian viscous creep regime (n = 1) was identified as the Nabarro–Herring creep.