Effects of radiation on crack-initiation and crack-arrest toughness for SA508 Cl. 3 steel

Book · Wed Nov 01 04:00:00 EST 1995

OSTI ID:122613

Milella, P P; Pini, A ^[1]; Iskander, S K ^[2]; Marschall, C W ^[3]; Rosenfield, A R ^[4]

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1. Agenzia Naziaonale per la Protezione dell`Ambiente, Rome (Italy). Technologies Division
2. Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (United States). Metals and Ceramic Division
3. Battelle, Columbus, OH (United States)
4. Rosenfield and Rosenfield, Columbus, OH (United States)

An investigation was carried out to determine the effects of neutron irradiation, conducted in several different test-reactors at approximately 280 C, on the mechanical properties of an SA508 Class 3 carbon steel ring forging produced in Italy as a prototype of a pressurized water reactor vessel. The research had two primary objectives: (1) to investigate the effect of a various levels of neutron irradiation (fluences from 1 to 5.5 10{sup 19} n/cm{sup 2} [E>1 MeV]) on the strength, initiation and arrest toughness and ductile-to-brittle transition temperature, and (2) to determine if Charpy data and empirical prediction equations provide conservative estimates of irradiation effects on the K{sub Ic} and K{sub Ia} transition curves. The paper reports results from tension, Charpy V-notch (CVN) fracture toughness, and crack-arrest tests performed on both unirradiated and irradiated material. It was found that both Charpy V-notch transition temperature shifts and two prediction equations provided conservative estimates of shifts in fracture initiation and fracture arrest transition temperatures for the steel investigated. The 54 C shift of the Charpy V-notch transition curves at a fluence level of 5.5 10{sup 19} n/cm{sup 2} suggests the possibility of extending the component life beyond the common 40 year design life.

• OSTI ID: 122613
• Report Number(s): CONF-950740--; ISBN 0-7918-1335-5
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
CARBON STEELS
DUCTILE-BRITTLE TRANSITIONS
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
FRACTURE PROPERTIES
MECHANICAL TESTS
PHYSICAL RADIATION EFFECTS
PRESSURE VESSELS
PWR TYPE REACTORS
TENSILE PROPERTIES