An Entropy-Based Failure Prediction Model for the Creep and Fatigue of Metallic Materials

It is well accepted that the second law of thermodynamics describes an irreversible process, which can be reflected by the entropy increase. Irreversible creep and fatigue damage can also be represented by a gradually increasing damage parameter. In the current study, an entropy-based failure prediction model for creep and fatigue is proposed based on the Boltzmann probabilistic entropy theory and continuum damage mechanics. A new method to determine the entropy increment rate for creep and fatigue processes is proposed. The relationship between entropy increase rate during creep process and normalized creep failure time is developed and compared with the experimental results. An empirical formula is proposed to describe the evolution law of entropy increase rate and normalized creep time. An entropy-based model is developed to predict the change of creep strain during the damage process. Experimental results of metals and alloys with different stresses and at different temperatures are adopted to verify the proposed model. It shows that the theoretical predictions agree well with experimental data.