Comparison of fracture toughness and Charpy impact properties recovery by thermal annealing of irradiated reactor pressure vessel steels

Conference · Fri Dec 01 04:00:00 EST 1995

OSTI ID:197159

Sokolov, M A; McCabe, D E; Iskander, S K; Nanstad, R K

The objective of this investigation was to study the effects of thermal annealing on the recovery of the transition region toughness of reactor pressure vessel steels. The toughness was measured by Charpy V-notch impact energy and fracture initiation toughness, K{sub Jc}. The materials were A 533 grade B class 1 plate and a commercial reactor vessel submerged-arc weld irradiated at 288{degrees}C to neutron fluences of 1.0 to 2.5 {times} 101{degrees} neutrons/cm{sup 2} (> 1 MeV). The irradiated materials were annealed at 343 and 454{degrees}C for 1 week. The recently developed Weibull statistic/master curve approach was applied to analyze fracture toughness properties of unirradiated, irradiated, and irradiated/annealed pressure vessel steels. The effects of irradiation or annealing were determined by the shift in temperature of the Charpy V-notch curve at 41 J and the fracture toughness curve at 100 MPa{radical}m. After annealing at 454{degrees}C, the residual shifts in fracture toughness are approximately the same as the residual Charpy shifts. The differences observed in these residual shifts after annealing are approximately the same as differences in the radiation-induced shifts.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-84OR21400
• OSTI ID: 197159
• Report Number(s): CONF-950816--5; ON: DE96003038
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
ANNEALING
CHARPY TEST
FRACTURE PROPERTIES
NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS
PRESSURE VESSELS
RADIATION EFFECTS
STEELS