Small punch creep test in a 316 austenitic stainless steel

The small punch creep test was applied to evaluate the creep behavior of a 316 type austenitic stainless steel at temperatures of 650, 675 and 700°C. The small punch test was carried out using a creep tester with a specimen size of 10×10×0.3 mm at 650, 675 and 700°C using loads from 199 to 512 N. The small punch creep curves show the three stages found in the creep curves of the conventional uniaxial test. The conventional creep relationships which involve parameters such as creep rate, stress, time to rupture and temperature were followed with the corresponding parameters of small punch creep test and they permitted to explain the creep behavior in this steel. The mechanism and activation energy of the deformation process were the grain boundary sliding and diffusion, respectively, during creep which caused the intergranular fracture in the tested specimens.