An Analysis of Burst Disc Pressure Instability

Abstract

During the development stage of the 1X Acorn burst disc, burst pressure test results exhibited an unexpected increase of 8 to 14% over times of 90--100 days from initial fabrication. This increase is a concern where design constraints require stability. The disc material, 316L stainless steel sheet, is formed to a dome-like geometry and scored to produce a thin-walled, high-strength ligament. The fracture events controlling burst occur in that ligament. Thus it has been characterized both for tensile properties and microstructure through nanoindentation, magnetic measurements, optical and transmission electron microscopy. These results compare favorably with finite element simulation of the properties of the ligament. The ligament exhibits a highly heterogeneous microstructure; its small volume and microstructural heterogeneity make it difficult to identify which microstructural feature controls fracture and hence burst pressure. Bulk mechanical test specimens were fabricated to emulate mid-ligament properties, and aged at both room and elevated temperatures to characterize and accelerate the temporal behavior of the burst disc. Property changes included yield and ultimate tensile strength increases, and fracture strain decreases with aging. Specimens were subjected to a reversion anneal identical to that given the burst disc to eliminate the martensite phase formed during rolling. Reversion-annealed samples exhibitedmore » no change in properties in room temperature or accelerated aging, showing that the reversion-anneal eliminated the aging phenomenon. Aging was analyzed in terms of diffusion controlled precipitate growth kinetics, showing that carbon migration to dislocations is consistent with the strength increases. A vacancy-assisted diffusion mechanism for carbon transport is proposed, giving rise to rapid aging, which replaces interstitial carbon diffusion until excess vacancies from deformation are consumed. Mechanical activation parameters in stress relaxation were measured, indicating that the deformation structures formed at high strains typical of the score ligament are resistant to annealing, and mimic the behavior of a thermal obstacles. This model also qualitatively explains the different rates of aging resulting from a range of levels of cold work.« less