A Study of Fracture Mechanisms in RAFM Steel in the Ductile to Brittle Transition Temperature Regime

Abstract

The fracture behaviour of a Reduced Activation Ferritic Martensitic Steel (RAFM) has been studied within the Ductile to Brittle Transition Temperature (DBTT) regime. The DBTT has been determined by ASTM E 1921 based reference temperature approach under dynamic loading condition. The dynamic reference temperature (T0dy) was found to be − 33.8°C. The fracture mechanism has been studied by extracting TEM specimens precisely at the crack initiation sites using focused ion beam (FIB) technique in a high resolution dual beam scanning electron microscope. Detailed analytical TEM studies revealed that the morphology of carbides play a crucial role in the initiation of a crack. The larger ellipsoidal carbides, which were found to be Cr-rich, have been found to be responsible for dislocation piles ups. The shorter edge of these ellipsoidal carbides are areas of high stress concentration and were found to initiate cracks by decohesion of the particle-matrix interface. On the contrary, the iron rich carbides have been found to be smaller, more spherical, and thus less effective in blocking dislocation movement and therefore formation of pile ups. The results, which reveal an important mechanism towards crack initiation in ferritic-martensitic steels, will be presented in detail.