Abstract
Effort has continued to evaluate joints made in oxide dispersion-strengthened (ODS) FeCrAl by (i) pulsed plasma-assisted diffusion (PPAD) bonding, and (ii) transient liquid phase (TLP) bonding. Creep tests of PPAD-bonded butt joints in air at 1000�C, using small, shoulder-loaded, dog bone-shaped specimens and an incrementally-loaded test technique, indicated that failure occurred at loads of up to 82% of that required to fail the parent alloy in the same test. For high creep-strength ferritic steels joined by conventional welding methods, strength reduction factors of 50-80% are considered to be acceptable. The failures apparently did not initiate along the joints; the observed mode of failure of the joined specimens was the same as observed for monolithic specimens of this alloy, by crack-initiated transgranular brittle fracture, followed by ductile overload failure. The progress of TLP bonding has been slower, with the major effort focused on understanding the behavior of the transient liquid phase and its interaction with the alloy microstructure during the various stages of bonding. Creep testing using the same procedures also has been used to evaluate changes resulting from torsional deformation of ODS-FeCrAl tubes in an attempt to modify their microstructures and increase their hoop strength. Interpretation of the results so far has not shown a clear trend, largely due to difficulties in measuring the effective angle of twist in the specimen gauge lengths. Other issues that have been addressed are the refinement of an approach for prediction of the oxidation-limited service lifetime of alumina scale-forming ODS alloys, and alternative routes for ODS alloy powder processing. Analysis of alloy specimens oxidized to failure (in some cases involving exposures for many thousands of hours) over a range of temperatures has provided an improved basis for calculating the values of parameters required in the lifing model (minimum Al content for protective behavior; initiation point for scale spallation); a quantitative description of the influence of specimen shape remains to be addressed.
