Development of the FE In-House Procedure for Creep Damage Simulation at Grain Boundary Level

A two-dimensional (2D) finite element framework for creep damage simulation at the grain boundary level was developed and reported. The rationale for the paper was that creep damage, particularly creep rupture, for most high temperature alloys is due to the cavitation at the grain boundary level, hence there is a need for depicting such phenomenon. In this specific development of the creep damage simulation framework, the material is modeled by grain and GB (grain boundary), separately, where smeared-out grain boundary element is used. The mesh for grain and grain boundary is achieved by using Neper software. This paper includes (1) the computational framework, the existing subroutines, and method applied in this procedure; (2) the numerical and programming implementation of the GB; (3) the development and validation of the creep software; and (4) the application to simulate plane stress Copper–Antimony alloy. This paper contributes to the development of finite element simulation for creep damage/rupture at a more realistic grain boundary level and contributes to a new understanding of the intrinsic relationship of stress redistribution and creep fracture.