Identification of creep parameters from multi‐step relaxation tests on miniaturised specimen

Abstract The small punch test (SPT) is a miniaturised method for thermo‐mechanical materials testing. The combination of simple specimen geometry and low required specimen volume is ideal for minimally invasive characterisation and monitoring of the current material condition in technological systems, including nuclear plants. The aim of the present study is to identify creep material properties of the chromium steel P91 (X10CrMoVNb9‐1) via small punch testing. It is examined to which extent a single relaxation test is suitable to replace several creep tests at different force levels. The inverse parameter identification method utilises a non‐linear optimisation approach in order to match the results of simulation and experiment. The simulation is performed using finite element analysis (FEA) and the considered material law aims to represent the high‐temperature behaviour of steels. To this end, a modified Liu–Murakami model is specifically used along with linear elasticity and non‐linear isotropic plasticity. We propose a strategy, that can be used to separately identify the Norton ‐parameters from multi‐step relaxation tests performed on one specimen. Thereby, the applied strain (displacement, if utilising SPT) is kept constant after initial loading, which enables stress relaxation within the specimen. In case of the SPT, this behaviour yields a decreasing reaction force which approximately approaches a constant value. During the repeated loading phases, specimen failure may occur, due to further plastification of the specimen. Loading and relaxation cycles are repeated until specimen failure. The identified parameters are validated via small punch creep experiments at different force levels. It will be shown that good agreement is observed when comparing the sets of identified parameters.