The comparative strength and fracture toughness properties of commercial 95W-3.5Ni1.5Fe and 95W-3.5Ni1.5Cu tungsten heavy alloys

Alam, M. E.; Odette, G. R.

doi:10.1016/j.nme.2023.101467

The comparative strength and fracture toughness properties of commercial 95W-3.5Ni1.5Fe and 95W-3.5Ni1.5Cu tungsten heavy alloys

Journal Article · Wed Jun 28 00:00:00 EDT 2023 · Nuclear Materials and Energy

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nme.2023.101467· OSTI ID:2417876

Alam, M. E. ^[1]; Odette, G. R. ^[2]

Univ. of California, Santa Barbara, CA (United States); Univ. of California, Santa Barbara, CA (United States)
Univ. of California, Santa Barbara, CA (United States)

Due to the sharp surface cracks resulting from high and cyclic thermal loads, fracture toughness is a crucial property for fusion divertor materials. Tungsten heavy alloys (WHA) have emerged as a leading candidate for plasma facing component applications. Both the WNiFe and WNiCu WHAs have been considered. However, there is no fracture toughness data in the literature on the WNiCu WHA. Therefore, maximum load elastic–plastic fracture toughness (K_Jm) of a commercial 95W-3.5Ni1.5Cu (NiCu) WHA plate is reported here for the first time. The NiCu WHA K_Jm is compared to a corresponding K_Jm for commercial 95W-3.5Ni1.5Fe (NiFe) WHA, along with comparisons of their respective microstructures, microhardness, and tensile properties. Although their room temperature yield strengths are similar (≈ 600 MPa), the NiFe WHA has higher ultimate stress (818 MPa vs. 642 MPa) and total elongation (8% vs. 1.2%) compared to the NiCu WHA. Most notably, the room temperature elastic–plastic K_Jm for the NiFe WHA of ≈ 80 ± 8 MPa$$\sqrt{m}$$, is nearly twice that of the NiCu WHA at ≈ 47 ± 4 MPa$$\sqrt{m}$$. Further, while the NiFe WHA experienced stable ductile tearing, the crack propagated unstably (approximately elastically) after reaching the maximum load in the NiCu WHA. The higher K_Jm of the NiFe WHA is attributed to its higher flow stress and ductility, along with the energy dissipation and microcrack dilatational stress shielding, provided by a wide distribution of arrested process-zone microcracks, which are largely absent in the NiCu WHA. Since, the 95W-NiFe WHA has distinctly better mechanical properties than 95W-NiCu WHA, it is a more suitable candidate for the fusion reactor application.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Univ. of California, Santa Barbara, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Fusion Energy Sciences (FES); National Science Foundation (NSF)

Grant/Contract Number:: FG03-94ER54275

OSTI ID:: 2417876

Journal Information:: Nuclear Materials and Energy, Journal Name: Nuclear Materials and Energy Journal Issue: C Vol. 36; ISSN 2352-1791

Publisher:: ElsevierCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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