skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: The Assessment and Validation of Mini-Compact Tension Test Specimen Geometry and Progress in Establishing Technique for Fracture Toughness Master Curves for Reactor Pressure Vessel Steels

Abstract

Small specimens are playing the key role in evaluating properties of irradiated materials. The use of small specimens provides several advantages. Typically, only a small volume of material can be irradiated in a reactor at desirable conditions in terms of temperature, neutron flux, and neutron dose. A small volume of irradiated material may also allow for easier handling of specimens. Smaller specimens reduce the amount of radioactive material, minimizing personnel exposures and waste disposal. However, use of small specimens imposes a variety of challenges as well. These challenges are associated with proper accounting for size effects and transferability of small specimen data to the real structures of interest. Any fracture toughness specimen that can be made out of the broken halves of standard Charpy specimens may have exceptional utility for evaluation of reactor pressure vessels (RPVs) since it would allow one to determine and monitor directly actual fracture toughness instead of requiring indirect predictions using correlations established with impact data. The Charpy V-notch specimen is the most commonly used specimen geometry in surveillance programs. Assessment and validation of mini-CT specimen geometry has been performed on previously well characterized HSST Plate 13B, an A533B class 1 steel. It was shown thatmore » the fracture toughness transition temperature measured by these Mini-CT specimens is within the range of To values that were derived from various large fracture toughness specimens. Moreover, the scatter of the fracture toughness values measured by Mini-CT specimens perfectly follows the Weibull distribution function providing additional proof for validation of this geometry for the Master Curve evaluation of rector pressure vessel steels. Moreover, the International collaborative program has been developed to extend the assessment and validation efforts to irradiated weld metal. The program is underway and involves ORNL, CRIEPI, and EPRI.« less

Authors:
 [1];  [1]
  1. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE
OSTI Identifier:
1366378
Report Number(s):
ORNL/TM-2016/602
RC0304000; NERC006
DOE Contract Number:  
AC05-00OR22725
Resource Type:
Technical Report
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE

Citation Formats

Sokolov, Mikhail A., and Nanstad, Randy K. The Assessment and Validation of Mini-Compact Tension Test Specimen Geometry and Progress in Establishing Technique for Fracture Toughness Master Curves for Reactor Pressure Vessel Steels. United States: N. p., 2016. Web. doi:10.2172/1366378.
Sokolov, Mikhail A., & Nanstad, Randy K. The Assessment and Validation of Mini-Compact Tension Test Specimen Geometry and Progress in Establishing Technique for Fracture Toughness Master Curves for Reactor Pressure Vessel Steels. United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/1366378
Sokolov, Mikhail A., and Nanstad, Randy K. 2016. "The Assessment and Validation of Mini-Compact Tension Test Specimen Geometry and Progress in Establishing Technique for Fracture Toughness Master Curves for Reactor Pressure Vessel Steels". United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/1366378. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1366378.
@article{osti_1366378,
title = {The Assessment and Validation of Mini-Compact Tension Test Specimen Geometry and Progress in Establishing Technique for Fracture Toughness Master Curves for Reactor Pressure Vessel Steels},
author = {Sokolov, Mikhail A. and Nanstad, Randy K.},
abstractNote = {Small specimens are playing the key role in evaluating properties of irradiated materials. The use of small specimens provides several advantages. Typically, only a small volume of material can be irradiated in a reactor at desirable conditions in terms of temperature, neutron flux, and neutron dose. A small volume of irradiated material may also allow for easier handling of specimens. Smaller specimens reduce the amount of radioactive material, minimizing personnel exposures and waste disposal. However, use of small specimens imposes a variety of challenges as well. These challenges are associated with proper accounting for size effects and transferability of small specimen data to the real structures of interest. Any fracture toughness specimen that can be made out of the broken halves of standard Charpy specimens may have exceptional utility for evaluation of reactor pressure vessels (RPVs) since it would allow one to determine and monitor directly actual fracture toughness instead of requiring indirect predictions using correlations established with impact data. The Charpy V-notch specimen is the most commonly used specimen geometry in surveillance programs. Assessment and validation of mini-CT specimen geometry has been performed on previously well characterized HSST Plate 13B, an A533B class 1 steel. It was shown that the fracture toughness transition temperature measured by these Mini-CT specimens is within the range of To values that were derived from various large fracture toughness specimens. Moreover, the scatter of the fracture toughness values measured by Mini-CT specimens perfectly follows the Weibull distribution function providing additional proof for validation of this geometry for the Master Curve evaluation of rector pressure vessel steels. Moreover, the International collaborative program has been developed to extend the assessment and validation efforts to irradiated weld metal. The program is underway and involves ORNL, CRIEPI, and EPRI.},
doi = {10.2172/1366378},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1366378}, journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu Sep 01 00:00:00 EDT 2016},
month = {Thu Sep 01 00:00:00 EDT 2016}
}