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U.S. Department of Energy
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TENSILE FAILURE OF QMV BERYLLIUM FROM ROOM TEMPERATURE TO 870 C

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:4017692

Short-time tensile tests of hot-pressed QMV beryllium were made at temperatures of 20 to 870 deg C. Mechanical properties were correlated with BeO content (0.8 to 2.0%) and with microstructure. Elongation increased with temperature to a maximum at 425 deg C, decreased to 760 deg C, and again increased at 815 deg C for samples with low BeO content. Samples with 2% BeO exhibited no increase in elongation at 815 deg C. Fracture was transcrystalline to 480 deg C, initiated by stress concentration at twin intersections, intersections of twins with grain boundaries, at {1012} twin-matrix interfaces, and at impurity particles, particularly carbides. Intercrystalline fractures, starting at 480 deg C, were characterized by void formation at grain boundaries normal to the stress axis. The amount of cavitation increased to a maximum at 760 deg C, and thereafter decreased as the temperature increased to 870 deg C. Voids were observed to have nucleated at carbide particles in grain boundaries. Presumably other impurities, such as BeO, are also capable of nucleating voids, although no direct confirmation of this could be obtained because such particles were small in comparison to the size of the voids. Striking evidence for the role of impurities in void formation was obtained in alloys of low BeO content, which contained several clusters of very large grains in a fine-grained matrix. The boundaries of these large grains were free of visible impurity particles and contained no intercrystalline voids, while the surrounding fine-grained materials contained impurity particles in the grain boundaries and numerous voids and cracks. Current fracture theories are used to explain the role of impurities and mechanical effects, e.g., grain boundary sliding and migration, as factors which contribute to intercrystalline failure of beryllium at elevated temperature. (auth)

Research Organization:
Lockheed Aircraft Corp. Missiles and Space Div., Sunnyvale, Calif.
NSA Number:
NSA-15-017300
OSTI ID:
4017692
Report Number(s):
LMSD-89083
Country of Publication:
Country unknown/Code not available
Language:
English