Internal stress and heterogeneous dislocation structure in creep

Abstract

The present work deals with the problem of microstructural interpretation of internal stress measured in high-temperature creep by the strain-transient dip-test technique. The development of microstructure in the course of creep is considered a transition from uniformly distributed dislocations to a well-developed substructure. The substructure is supposed to have a composite character that consists of cell or subgrain boundaries with few dislocations in cell or subgrain interiors. Model equations for the relation of internal stress to the parameters of the dislocation structure are discussed and examined with reference to experimental data. The evolution of internal stress in creep, evaluated using different formulae, is compared with the evolution of macroscopically measured internal stress. The use of applied-stress dependences of microstructure parameters permits quite realistic estimates of the values of internal stress in steady-state creep.