High Strain Rate Testing of Welded DOP-26 Iridium
- Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
The iridium alloy DOP-26 is used to produce Clad Vent Set cups that protect the radioactive fuel in radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs) which provide electric power for spacecraft and rovers. In a previous study, the tensile properties of DOP-26 were measured over a wide range of strain rates and temperatures and reported in ORNL/TM-2007/81. While that study established the properties of the base material, the fabrication of the heat sources requires welding, and the mechanical properties of welded DOP-26 have not been extensively characterized in the past. Therefore, this study was undertaken to determine the mechanical properties of DOP-26 specimens containing a transverse weld in the center of their gage sections. Tensile tests were performed at room temperature, 750, 900, and 1090°C and engineering strain rates of 1×10-3 and 10 s-1. Room temperature testing was performed in air, while testing at elevated temperatures was performed in a vacuum better than 1×10-4 Torr. The welded specimens had a significantly higher yield stress, by up to a factor of ~2, than the non-welded base material. The yield stress did not depend on the strain rate except at 1090°C, where it was slightly higher for the faster strain rate. The ultimate tensile stress, on the other hand, was significantly higher for the faster strain rate at temperatures of 750°C and above. At 750°C and above, the specimens deformed at 1×10-3 s-1 showed pronounced necking resulting sometimes in perfect chisel-edge fracture. The specimens deformed at 10 s-1 exhibited this fracture behavior only at the highest test temperature, 1090°C. Fracture occurred usually in the fusion zone of the weld and was, in most cases, primarily intergranular.
- Research Organization:
- Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC05-00OR22725
- OSTI ID:
- 1376443
- Report Number(s):
- ORNL/TM-2017/276; 75110; TRN: US1801134
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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