Title: Identification and validation of a continuum damage model applied for the lifetime prediction of H11 tool steel

Authors: V. Velay, G. Bernhart, D. Delagnes

Addresses: CROMeP (Research Centre On Tools Materials and Processes), Ecole Mines Albi, France. ' CROMeP (Research Centre On Tools Materials and Processes), Ecole Mines Albi, France. ' CROMeP (Research Centre On Tools Materials and Processes), Ecole Mines Albi, France

Abstract: This paper describes the work performed to identify and validate a non-isothermal continuum damage model for a widely used hot-work tool steel H11 at a hardness of 47 HRc. The investigation is based on an extensive high-temperature low-cycle fatigue database performed under strain rate controlled tests with and without dwell times in the range of 300°C–600°C. The approach gives a good description of the thermomechanical behaviour of H11 tool steel under various test conditions and constitutes a very good prediction tool for a very large amount of fatigue tests. This work is divided into three stages. First, isothermal fatigue tests are performed on flat specimens in order to identify lifetime model parameters. Then, thermo mechanical fatigue tests are considered in order to validate the model in a non isothermal case. Lastly, low-cycle fatigue tests are carried out on notched specimens in order to investigate the model capabilities in a multiaxial condition.

Keywords: continuum damage models; lifetime prediction; low-cycle fatigue tests; thermomechanical fatigue; notched specimen; H11 tool steel; isothermal fatigue.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMMP.2008.018735

International Journal of Microstructure and Materials Properties, 2008 Vol.3 No.2/3, pp.282 - 296

Published online: 16 Jun 2008 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article