Following a successful study on the prediction of fatigue life of high-heat-load components made of Glidcop, the thermal limitation of oxygen-free copper (OFC), which is used more commonly than Glidcop, has been studied. In addition to its general mechanical properties, the low-cycle-fatigue (LCF) and creep properties of OFC were investigated in detail and compared with those of Glidcop. The breaking mode of OFC, which was observed to be completely different from that of Glidcop in a fatigue fracture experiment, clarified the importance of considering the creep–fatigue interaction. An additional LCF test with compressive strain holding was conducted so that the creep–fatigue life diagram for out-of-phase thermal fatigue could be obtained on the basis of the strain-range partitioning method. The life predicted from elasto-plastic creep analysis agreed well with that determined from the void ratio estimated in the fatigue fracture experiment.
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