Fracture toughness of irradiated stainless steel alloys

Journal Article · Thu Sep 01 00:00:00 EDT 1988 · Nucl. Technol.; (United States)

OSTI ID:6566245

Mills, W J ^[1]

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1. Westinghouse Electric Corp., Bettis Atomic Power Lab., P.O. Box 79, West Mifflin, PA (US)

The postirradiation fracture toughness responses of Types 316 and 304 stainless steel wrought products, cast CF8 stainless steel, and Type 308 stainless steel weld deposit were characterized at 427/sup 0/C using J/sub R/ curve techniques. Fast neutron irradiation of these alloys caused an order-of-magnitude reduction in J/sub c/ and two-orders-of-magnitude reduction in the tearing modulus at neutron exposures above 10 dpa, where radiation-induced losses in toughness appeared to saturate. Saturation J/sub c/ values for the wrought materials ranged from 28 to 31 kJ/m/sup 2/; the weld exhibited a saturation level of 11 kJ/m/sup 2/. Maximum allowable flaw sizes for highly irradiated stainless steel components stressed to 90% of the unirradiated yield strength are on the order of 3 cm for the wrought material and 1 cm for the weld. Austenitic stainless steel alloys are used extensively as structural materials in liquid-metal fast breeder reactors (LMFBRs).

• OSTI ID: 6566245
• Journal Information: Nucl. Technol.; (United States), Journal Name: Nucl. Technol.; (United States) Vol. 82:3; ISSN NUTYB
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
210500* -- Power Reactors
Breeding
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
360103 -- Metals & Alloys-- Mechanical Properties
360106 -- Metals & Alloys-- Radiation Effects
ALLOYS
AUSTENITIC STEELS
BARYONS
BREEDER REACTORS
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
EPITHERMAL REACTORS
FAST NEUTRONS
FAST REACTORS
FBR TYPE REACTORS
FERMIONS
HADRONS
HIGH ALLOY STEELS
IRON ALLOYS
IRON BASE ALLOYS
IRRADIATION
LIQUID METAL COOLED REACTORS
LMFBR TYPE REACTORS
MATERIALS TESTING
MECHANICAL PROPERTIES
NEUTRONS
NUCLEONS
PHYSICAL RADIATION EFFECTS
RADIATION EFFECTS
REACTOR COMPONENTS
REACTORS
STAINLESS STEELS
STEELS
TENSILE PROPERTIES
TESTING