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The effective operation of ageing coal-fired power plants requires routine damage assessment of critical component materials throughout their service history. Traditional post-exposure mechanical testing typically requires large amounts of material for each testing condition. This study introduces an accelerated (high stress and temperature) creep testing technique that employs digital image correlation for strain measurement over a non-uniform temperature field generated by a thermomechanical tester. When applied to different ex-service (exposed to service conditions within a power plant) 12% Cr piping steels, multiple accelerated creep curves at temperatures ranging from 550°C to 600°C are measured from a single specimen for each material condition. Higher creep damage in the steel due to longer service exposure and higher void densities is revealed by shorter rupture times, faster creep rates and tertiary-dominated creep curves when compared to the lower creep damage state. Microstructural study via quantitative electron microscopy confirms the dislocation creep-driven growth of subgrains in the specimen gauge regions relative to the grips. Larger subgrains and a weakening of precipitate distributions for the high damage material were also noted. Digital image correlation–measured strains are in good agreement with traditional techniques of creep testing with standard extensometry. On a comparative basis, the technique is shown to be a plausible form of damage assessment of 12% Cr piping steels with varying levels of service exposure and serve as a suitable mechanical complement to the traditional void replica methodology.

Standard test methods for measuring temperature-specific mechanical properties are typically specimen and time intensive when the influence of varying parameters is taken into consideration. Often, multiple specimens and test runs are required to build a complete database of constitutive parameters. This article presents a numerical–experimental methodology that employs digital image correlation to measure temperature-specific tensile properties of a 12% Cr steel. The methodology presents the unique ability to obtain temperature-specific properties from a single sample: the sample is subjected to a longitudinal thermal gradient through resistive heating in a thermomechanical loading system, while the full-field capabilities of digital image correlation and thermal imaging are used to measure strain and temperature surface maps, respectively. A study on the robustness of the methodology with regard to image saturation control and stress state found the setup capable of deformation measurement up to 900 °C. Elastic moduli and Poisson’s ratios were extracted in the 480 °C–600 °C range from a single specimen. The presented metrology sets the framework for investigations that are aimed at extracting temperature-specific mechanical properties for 12% Cr steels.