Fracture toughness of irradiated stainless steel alloys

Technical Report · Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1986

OSTI ID:6434984

Mills, W J

The postirradiation fracture toughness responses of Types 316 and 304 stainless steel (SS) wrought products, cast CF8 SS and Type 308 SS weld deposit were characterized at 427C using J/sub R/-curve techniques. Fast-neutron irradiation of these alloys caused an order of magnitude reduction in J/sub c/ and two orders of magnitude reduction in tearing modulus at neutron exposures above 10 dpa, where radiation-induced losses in toughness appeared to saturate. Saturation J/sub c/ values for the wrought materials ranged from 28 to 31 kJ/mS; the weld exhibited a saturation level of 11 kJ/mS. Maximum allowable flaw sizes for highly irradiated stainless steel components stressed to 90% of the unirradiated yield strength are on the order of 3 cm for the wrought material and 1 cm for the weld. Electron fractographic examination revealed that irradiation displacement damage brought about a transition from ductile microvoid coalescence to channel fracture, associated with local separation along planar deformation bands. The lower saturation toughness value for the weld relative to that for the wrought products was attributed to local failure of ferrite particles ahead of the advancing crack which prematurely initiated channel fracture.

• Research Organization: Hanford Engineering Development Lab., Richland, WA (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC06-76FF02170
• OSTI ID: 6434984
• Report Number(s): HEDL-SA-3471; ON: DE87009974
• Resource Relation: Other Information: Portions of this document are illegible in microfiche products
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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