Modeling and testing miniature torsion specimens for SiC joining development studies for fusion

Journal Article · Wed Aug 05 00:00:00 EDT 2015 · Journal of Nuclear Materials

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2015.07.044· OSTI ID:1311255

Henager, Jr., C. H. ^[1]; Nguyen, Ba N. ^[1]; Kurtz, Richard J. ^[1]; Roosendaal, T. J. ^[1]; Borlaug, B. A. ^[1]; Ferraris, Monica ^[2]; Ventrella, A. ^[2]; Katoh, Yutai ^[3]

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1. Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
2. Polytechnic University of Turin, Torino (Italy)
3. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

The international fusion community has designed a miniature torsion specimen for neutron irradiation studies of joined SiC and SiC/SiC composite materials. For this research, miniature torsion joints based on this specimen design were fabricated using displacement reactions between Si and TiC to produce Ti₃SiC₂ + SiC joints with SiC and tested in torsion-shear prior to and after neutron irradiation. However, many miniature torsion specimens fail out-of-plane within the SiC specimen body, which makes it problematic to assign a shear strength value to the joints and makes it difficult to compare unirradiated and irradiated strengths to determine irradiation effects. Finite element elastic damage and elastic–plastic damage models of miniature torsion joints are developed that indicate shear fracture is more likely to occur within the body of the joined sample and cause out-of-plane failures for miniature torsion specimens when a certain modulus and strength ratio between the joint material and the joined material exists. The model results are compared and discussed with regard to unirradiated and irradiated test data for a variety of joint materials. The unirradiated data includes Ti₃SiC₂ + SiC/CVD-SiC joints with tailored joint moduli, and includes steel/epoxy and CVD-SiC/epoxy joints. Finally, the implications for joint data based on this sample design are discussed.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Fusion Energy Sciences (FES); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Fusion Energy Sciences (FES) (SC-24)
• Grant/Contract Number: AC05-00OR22725; AC05-76RL01830; AC06-76RL01830
• OSTI ID: 1311255
• Alternate ID(s): OSTI ID: 1212999; OSTI ID: 22590000; OSTI ID: 1252258
• Journal Information: Journal of Nuclear Materials, Journal Name: Journal of Nuclear Materials Vol. 466; ISSN 0022-3115
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
42 ENGINEERING
Damage model
Finite element
Fusion materials
Joining
SiC
Torsion