Abstract
Abstract Measurements of acoustic emission (AE) from a range of four unirradiated nuclear graphites during three-point bend tests are reported. Results are in agreement with the trends found in earlier work using different AE apparatus. The technique is applied to the testing of small beam specimens cut from irradiated Civil Advanced Gas-cooled Reactor (CAGR) graphite fuel sleeves after discharge from the reactor. The AE information is explained by considering separately the known changes in graphite microstructure that occur in the reactor due to radiolytic oxidation and fast neutron irradiation. Coarsening of the material due to radiolytic oxidation increases the total number of AE events and the proportion of events of low amplitude. Fast neutron irradiation increases the fracture stress and makes the stress-strain curve more linear. As a consequence, the number of AE events is reduced along with the proportion of events of low amplitude.
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