Gradient Temperature Creep Testing: A Novel Approach to Parallelized Deformation Analysis

Gradient Temperature Creep Testing: A Novel Approach to Parallelized Deformation Analysis | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Physical Sciences - Article Gradient Temperature Creep Testing: A Novel Approach to Parallelized Deformation Analysis Artur Leonel Machado Ulsenheimer, Calvin Stewart This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-6728451/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract This study explores the gradient temperature creep test (ΔT) as a parallelized method for acquiring hundreds of creep curves across a range of temperatures using a single specimen. In conventional creep testing (CCT), a single creep curve is acquired per specimen at a set temperature. Many CCTs must be performed to determine the creep resistance of an alloy at service-like conditions. In the ΔT test, a quasi-static temperature gradient is produced using induction heating. Strain and temperature are mapped using Infrared 3D Digital Image Correlation, allowing for the extraction of creep deformation curves throughout the temperature gradient. This innovative approach enables the determination of the minimum-creep-strain-rate, activation energy, and the construction of partial creep curves at various isotherms along the specimen's gauge section. In this study, 4130 steel is subject to conventional creep tests at 4 isotherms (525, 550, 575, 600°C) and a single ΔT test is performed spanning approximately 245 to 600°C. Tests are performed on flat dogbone specimen and are interrupted at 7.5 hours. The creep curves, minimum-creep-strain-rate, and activation energy of the two methods are compared. A Python extraction algorithm is developed to filter the 13,462 raw creep curves measured during the ΔT. Datapoints below the creep activation threshold (525°C), outside the ASTM limits (± 2°C), and susceptible to stress concentrations are culled. The remaining datapoints are collated into equally spaced isotherms (5°C increment) within the ASTM tolerance (± 2°C). Minimum-creep-strain-rates are extracted from each curve and the Arrhenius equation plotted to furnish creep activation energy. Using this processed dataset, the ΔT test reproduces CCT behaviour, with the creep‑activation‑energy only 1.32% higher and the minimum‑creep‑strain‑rate differing by < 3% across the 525–600°C range. A total of 474 creep curves meet/or exceed ASTM standards. This outcome is equivalent to 474 independently run CCTs, representing over 3,547.5 total hours of testing time, while cutting both material usage and its associated cost by about 99.78%. A discussion on how to further optimize this test method is proposed. Physical sciences/Materials science/Techniques and instrumentation/Characterization and analytical techniques Physical sciences/Materials science/Techniques and instrumentation/Imaging techniques Physical sciences/Engineering/Aerospace engineering Gradient Temperature Creep Test High‑Throughput Testing Thermal‑Gradient Creep Testing Infrared Digital Image Correlation Minimum-creep-strain-rate Creep Activation Energy Accelerated materials testing Parallel creep curves Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-6728451","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Physical Sciences - Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":468404571,"identity":"f39ff163-f4fa-46c9-992e-e924dc959fb3","order_by":0,"name":"Artur Leonel Machado Ulsenheimer","email":"data:image/png;base64,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","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0009-0003-6895-4716","institution":"The Ohio State University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Artur","middleName":"Leonel Machado","lastName":"Ulsenheimer","suffix":""},{"id":468404572,"identity":"751bd9e7-49ca-4667-80a7-2893470d5939","order_by":1,"name":"Calvin Stewart","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"The Ohio State University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Calvin","middleName":"","lastName":"Stewart","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-05-23 02:00:39","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6728451/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6728451/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":85364655,"identity":"187dee6c-899f-452c-b2d4-97cd49d5c05e","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-06-25 06:35:14","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":2447404,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"GradientTemperatureCreepTestingANovelApproachtoParallelizedDeformationAnalysis.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-6728451/v1_covered_4e6ff6a3-ba10-4b28-a1ad-9979ce156ea4.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"There is \u003cb\u003eNO\u003c/b\u003e Competing Interest.","formattedTitle":"Gradient Temperature Creep Testing: A Novel Approach to Parallelized Deformation Analysis","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"nature-portfolio","isNatureJournal":true,"hasQc":false,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Nature Portfolio","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":false,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"ejp","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false},"keywords":"Gradient Temperature Creep Test, High‑Throughput Testing, Thermal‑Gradient Creep Testing, Infrared Digital Image Correlation, Minimum-creep-strain-rate, Creep Activation Energy, Accelerated materials testing, Parallel creep curves","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6728451/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6728451/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eThis study explores the gradient temperature creep test (ΔT) as a parallelized method for acquiring hundreds of creep curves across a range of temperatures using a single specimen. In conventional creep testing (CCT), a single creep curve is acquired per specimen at a set temperature. Many CCTs must be performed to determine the creep resistance of an alloy at service-like conditions. In the ΔT test, a quasi-static temperature gradient is produced using induction heating. Strain and temperature are mapped using Infrared 3D Digital Image Correlation, allowing for the extraction of creep deformation curves throughout the temperature gradient. This innovative approach enables the determination of the minimum-creep-strain-rate, activation energy, and the construction of partial creep curves at various isotherms along the specimen's gauge section.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eIn this study, 4130 steel is subject to conventional creep tests at 4 isotherms (525, 550, 575, 600\u0026deg;C) and a single ΔT test is performed spanning approximately 245 to 600\u0026deg;C. Tests are performed on flat dogbone specimen and are interrupted at 7.5 hours. The creep curves, minimum-creep-strain-rate, and activation energy of the two methods are compared. A Python extraction algorithm is developed to filter the 13,462 raw creep curves measured during the ΔT. Datapoints below the creep activation threshold (525\u0026deg;C), outside the ASTM limits (\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;2\u0026deg;C), and susceptible to stress concentrations are culled. The remaining datapoints are collated into equally spaced isotherms (5\u0026deg;C increment) within the ASTM tolerance (\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;2\u0026deg;C). Minimum-creep-strain-rates are extracted from each curve and the Arrhenius equation plotted to furnish creep activation energy. Using this processed dataset, the ΔT test reproduces CCT behaviour, with the creep‑activation‑energy only 1.32% higher and the minimum‑creep‑strain‑rate differing by \u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;3% across the 525\u0026ndash;600\u0026deg;C range. A total of 474 creep curves meet/or exceed ASTM standards. This outcome is equivalent to 474 independently run CCTs, representing over 3,547.5 total hours of testing time, while cutting both material usage and its associated cost by about 99.78%. A discussion on how to further optimize this test method is proposed.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Gradient Temperature Creep Testing: A Novel Approach to Parallelized Deformation Analysis","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2025-06-25 06:27:05","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6728451/v1","editorialEvents":[],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"nature-communications","isNatureJournal":true,"hasQc":false,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"NCOMMS","sideBox":"Learn more about [Nature Communications](http://www.nature.com/ncomms/)","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"https://mts-ncomms.nature.com/","title":"Nature Communications","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"ejp","reportingPortfolio":"Nature Communications","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"8dbcea8a-c049-4c1e-ba87-23d97379b04b","owner":[],"postedDate":"June 25th, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"under-review","subjectAreas":[{"id":49726557,"name":"Physical sciences/Materials science/Techniques and instrumentation/Characterization and analytical techniques"},{"id":49726558,"name":"Physical sciences/Materials science/Techniques and instrumentation/Imaging techniques"},{"id":49726559,"name":"Physical sciences/Engineering/Aerospace engineering"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2025-06-25T06:27:05+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2025-06-25 06:27:05","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-6728451","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-6728451","identity":"rs-6728451","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"8U1c8b4HqxoKbykW_rLl7","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}