Continuous Creep Damage Monitoring Using a Novel Potential Drop Technique

A new directional low-frequency Alternating Current Potential Drop (ACPD) technique has been developed for continuous in-situ monitoring of creep strain and damage in alloys. The sensor relies on a modified ACPD technique that measures simultaneously both values of resistance in the axial and lateral directions using a square electrode configuration. The technique monitors the variation in the ratio of the measured axial and lateral resistances, therefore can efficiently separate the mostly isotropic common part of the resistivity variation caused by reversible temperature variations from the mostly anisotropic differential part caused by direct geometrical and indirect material effects of creep. Initially, this ratio can be considered proportional to the axial creep strain, while at later stages, the resistance ratio accelerates due to the formation of directional discontinuities such as preferentially oriented grain boundary cavities and micro-cracking in the material. This ACPD technique has been applied to a series of accelerated creep tests on 2.25CrMoV Steel at 650 °C. The results are presented and the application of the method for online component monitoring is discussed.