Effects of Ar Ion Irradiation on Mechanical Properties and Microstructure of SA508 Grade 3 Class 1 and Class 2 Reactor Pressure Vessel Steels

The irradiation embrittlement damage of reactor pressure vessel (RPV) steel is one of its primary failure mechanisms. In this work, neutron, ion and proton irradiation experiments were carried on the same commercial RPV steels with the same irradiation fluence under the same temperature of 292°C. Then the nano-indentation hardness tests were performed on the RPV steel before and after irradiation. The results show that the irradiation hardening effects are observed by means of nano-indentation technique under the above three irradiations, and the hardening features are basically the same. While the max variation and increase rate are obviously different between those irradiations. It is found that the main reason of the above differences are caused by different energies of irradiation energetic particles, resulting in different types and quantities of defects. The conclusions in this paper are helpful to select and compare different irradiation experiments to the research of RPV steels irradiation embrittlement damage.

Effects of neutron irradiation on resistivity of reactor pressure vessel steel

Effects of neutron irradiation on elastic modulus of RPV steel

This paper presents a systematic review of the behavior of phosphorus (P), highlighting the implications of P segregation to grain boundaries under neutron irradiation. The review focuses on Mn-Mo-Ni steels employed in US pressurized water reactors (PWRs), and other PWRs worldwide. Segregation of P to grain boundaries in reactor pressure vessel (RPV) steels can occur during fabrication (especially during the slow cooling stage of a post-weld heat treatment), and as a result of in-service exposure to high operating temperature and irradiation. This segregation of P to grain boundaries can promote a change in the brittle fracture mode from transgranular (TGF) to intergranular (IGF), and a degradation in the mechanical properties. In US RPV steels, most data are on thermal aging of the heat-affected zone (HAZ). Studies in coarse-grained HAZ have shown that the embrittlement arising from segregation of P to grain boundaries is approximately linearly related to the proportion of the brittle fracture that is IGF, and/or the P concentration at the grain boundary. Data are sparse on the effect of irradiation at 288°C on P segregation, and on the contribution of IGF to the total shift in the 41J transition temperature, T41J. In general, the bulk P content appears to be less than about 0.028 wt% P, with base metals having lower levels than weldments. In addition, the consequences of vessel annealing are considered at temperatures around 475°C. It is certain that the annealing treatment will have the consequence of reducing the irradiation hardening, but may significantly increase the grain boundary phosphorus coverage and the likelihood of IGF.

The effect of neutron irradiation damage of reactor pressure vessel (RPV) steels is a main failure mode. Accelerated neutron irradiation experiments at 292 °C were conducted on RPV steels, followed by testing of the mechanical, electrical and magnetic properties for both the unirradiated and irradiated steels in a hot laboratory. The results showed that a significant increase in the strength, an obvious decrease in toughness, a corresponding increase in resistivity, and the clockwise turn of the hysteresis loops, resulting in a slight decrease in saturation magnetization when the RPV steel irradiation damage reached 0.0409 dpa; at the same time, the variation rate of the resistivity between the irradiated and unirradiated RPV steels shows good agreement with the variation rates of the mechanical properties parameters, such as nano-indentation hardness, ultimate tensile strength, yield strength at 0.2% offset, upper shelf energy and reference nil ductility transition temperature. Thus, as a complement to destructive mechanical testing, the resistivity variation can be used as a potentially non-destructive evaluation technique for the monitoring of the RPV steel irradiation damage of operational nuclear power plants.

Radiation embrittlement modelling for reactor pressure vessel steels: I. Brittle fracture toughness prediction

In the past few years, miniature testing techniques to evaluate the mechanical properties of structural materials of nuclear reactors have gained interest due to the limited number of irradiated surveillance specimens and strict safety regulations. One of such miniature testing techniques is the Small Punch Testing (SPT) method, which uses tiny discs to estimate mechanical properties such as tensile properties, fracture toughness and the ductile-to-brittle transition temperature of the examined material. As described in the ASTM E3205 standard: Standard Test Method for Small Punch Testing of Metallic Materials, empirical relations are used to correlate the yield strength and the ultimate tensile strength to the SPT parameters determined from the investigated material. The validity of these empirical relations at high fluence irradiation needs to be further studied and understood to assess the potential applicability of the SPT technique for the evaluation of the effect of high-fluence irradiation in reactor pressure vessel (RPV) steels and for the implementation of this testing method in surveillance programs of existing nuclear power plants. In this current work, SPT tests have been performed on six RPV model steels in the as-received and highly neutron irradiated state. These alloys were part of the joint NRG-JRC irradiation campaign LYRA-10 and resemble VVER and PWR RPV steels with tailored chemical compositions to study the synergetic effect of Ni, Mn and Si in the high fluence regime. The tensile properties of these materials prior and after irradiation are correlated with the SPT results and the shifts in SPT fitting parameter βp0.2 as effect of irradiation and chemical composition are studied to evaluate the effectiveness of this technique for screening of irradiation-induced hardening.

The first part of the paper presents the influence of the processing temperature by injection of HDPE, of PMMA, and PC+ABS blend on the indentation hardness and on the indentation modulus, when other factors that can influence the injection remain unchanged. The second part of the paper presents the influence of subsequent pressure by injection of HDPE, PMMA, and PC+ABS blend on the indentation hardness and on the indentation modulus, when the other factors remain unchanged. The HDPE samples were obtained at the following injection temperatures: 180, 190, 200, 210, and 220�C, and at the following subsequent pressures: 800 bar, 900 bar, 1000 bar, 1100 bar, and 1200 bar. The PMMA samples were obtained at the following injection temperatures: 220, 230, 240, 250, and 260�C, and at the following subsequent pressures: 450, 550, 650 , 750, and 850 bar. The PC+ABS samples were obtained at the following injection temperatures: 230, 240, 250, 260, and 270�C, and at the following subsequent pressures: 500 bar, 600 bar, 700, 800, and 900 bar. The G-Series Basic Hardness Modulus at a Depth method was used to obtain the indentation hardness and the indentation modulus. It was observed that by increasing the processing temperature and subsequent pressure, in the case of HDPE, leads to an increase in indentation hardness and in indentation modulus. It was observed that increasing the processing temperature by injection in the case of PMMA, from 220 to 250�C, leads to a slight increase in indentation hardness and in indentation modulus, whereas increasing the subsequent pressure of PMMA, from 450 bar to 850 bar, leads to a slight decrease in indentation hardness and in the indentation modulus. Increasing the processing temperature by injection in the case of PC+ABS, from 230 to 250�C, leads to a slight increase in indentation hardness and in indentation modulus. By further increasing the processing temperature by injection, from 250 to 270�C, leads to a decrease in indentation hardness and in the indentation modulus. Alternatively, increasing the subsequent pressure from 500 bar to 900 bar leads to not only a decrease in indentation hardness but also to a decrease in the indentation modulus.

Effects of neutron irradiation on magnetic properties of reactor pressure vessel steel

Reactor pressure vessel (RPV) steels are critical for maintaining the structural integrity and safety of nuclear reactors, designed to endure extreme conditions over prolonged operational lifetimes. Evaluating the mechanical properties of RPV steels frequently involves tests with sub-sized specimens, due to size constraints associated with irradiated materials. However, the reduced specimen dimensions introduce a size effect that alters material behavior and requires correlating the test results to full-sized specimens. Although numerous correlation methods have been previously proposed, they are typically applicable to specific test conditions. To address these challenges, this study introduces a public dataset of 4,961 Charpy impact test records for RPV steels. The dataset was compiled through a comprehensive literature review and incorporates data from 109 peer-reviewed publications. It provides detailed information on material composition, manufacturing treatments, specimen dimensions, testing conditions, and test results. The primary objective of the dataset is to advance the understanding of specimen size effect in Charpy impact testing, and support studies for validating existing methods and developing data-driven approaches for test results correlation.

The degradation of the mechanical properties of the RPV (Reactor Pressure Vessel) steel during an irradiation in a nuclear power plant is closely related to the irradiation induced defects. The size of these defects is known to be a few nanometer, and the small angle neutron scattering technique is regarded as the best non destructive technique to characterize the nano sized inhomogeneities in bulk samples. The investigated the RPV steel has been used in YeongKwang nuclear power plant at Korea and the Cu content of the RPV steel is 0.06 wt%. The RPV steel was irradiated in the HANARO reactor at KAERI. The small angle neutron scattering experiments were performed by the SANS instrument in the HANARO reactor. The nano sized irradiation induced defects were quantitatively analyzed by SANS and the type of the irradiation induced defects was discussed in detail. The relation between irradiation induced defects and the yield strength was investigated. The characteristics of irradiation induced defects in low Cu containing RPV steel were discussed.

In order to monitor the neutron irradiation embrittlement of the reactor pressure vessel (RPV) steels for the safe operation of light-water reactors, surveillance specimens of representative materials, i.e. base metal, weld metal and heat affected zone (HAZ), are installed in the RPV during reactor operation according to the regulation. Among these materials, HAZ specimens exhibit a relatively large scatter in Charpy impact properties because of the microstructural inhomogeneity due to multi-pass welding. ASTM E185 and JSME S NC1 stipulate the exception of HAZ specimens from surveillance test. However, the technical basis on the exception has not been established. Therefore, we have started a research on the irradiation embrittlement in HAZ material of RPV steels. Typical RPV steel plates with different impurity levels and their weldments were fabricated to characterize the microstructures and subsequent mechanical properties of typical HAZ materials. Simulated HAZ materials were also made by applying several heat treatments representative of HAZ. Finite element analysis was conducted to draw maps of distributions of grain size and phase-fraction. Using simulated HAZ materials with different grain size and phase before irradiation, mechanical properties such as hardness, Charpy impact property and fracture toughness were measured in comparison with those of base metals and actual HAZ materials. Through the comparison, it was indicated that mechanical properties such as fracture toughness in some simulated HAZ materials were different from base metal and dependent significantly on the metallurgical structure, particularly phase but prior austenitic grain size. Higher fracture toughness in CGHAZ (Coarse-Grain HAZ) materials compared to base metal is due to mixed structure of martensite and lower-bainite phases. Upper-bainite phase in FGHAZ (Fine-Grain HAZ) and base materials causes lower fracture toughness than CGHAZ materials.

The Heavy-Section Steel Irradiation Program at Oak Ridge National Laboratory includes a task to investigate the propensity for temper embrittlement in coarse grain regions of heat-affected zones in prototypic reactor pressure vessel (RPV) steel weldments as a consequence of irradiation and thermal annealing. For the present studies, five prototypic RPV steels with specifications of A302 grade B, A302 grade B (modified), A533 grade B class 1, and A508 class 2 were given two different austenitization treatments and various thermal aging treatments. Thermal aging treatments were conducted at 399, 425, 454 and 490°C for times of 168 and 2000 h. Charpy V-notch impact toughness vs temperature curves were developed for each condition with ductile-brittle transition temperatures used as the basis for comparing the effects of the various heat treatments. Very high austenitization heat treatment produced extremely large grains which exhibited a very high propensity for temper embrittlement following thermal aging. Intergranular fracture was the predominant mode of failure in many of the materials and Auger analysis confirmed significant segregation of phosphorus at the grain boundaries. Lower temperature austenitization treatment performed in a super Gleeble to simulate prototypic coarse grain microstructures in submerged-arc weldments produced the expected grain size with varying propensity for temper embrittlement dependent on the material as well as on the thermal aging temperature and time. Although the lower temperature treatment resulted in decreased propensity for temper embrittlement, the results did provide motivation for the investigation of the potential for phosphorus segregation as a consequence of neutron irradiation and post-irradiation thermal annealing at 454°C. One of the A 302 grade B (modified) steels was given the Gleeble treatment, irradiated at 288°C to about 0.8 × 1019n/cm (>1 MeV) and given a thermal annealing treatment at 454°C for 168 h. Charpy impact testing was conducted on the material in both the irradiated and irradiated/annealed conditions, as well as in the as-received condition. The results show that, although the material exhibited a relatively small Charpy impact 41-J temperature shift, the heat-affected zone-simulated material did exhibit significant intergranular fracture in the post-irradiation annealed condition.

Neutron induced damage in reactor pressure vessel steel: An X-ray absorption fine structure study

P92 steel was irradiated with Ar ion up to 10 dpa at 200, 400, and 700 °C. The effect of Ar ion irradiation on hardness was investigated with nanoindentation tests and microstructure analyses. It was observed that irradiation-induced hardening occurred in the steel after Ar ion irradiation at all three temperatures to 10 dpa. The steel exhibited significant hardening at 200 and 700 °C, and slight hardening at 400 °C under Ar ion irradiation. Difference in the magnitude of irradiation-induced hardening at different temperature in the steel is attributed to different changes in the microstructure of the steel that arose from the irradiation. Irradiation-induced hardening in the P92 steel irradiated at 200 °C is attributed to the occurrence of both dislocation loops and other fine irradiation defects during irradiation. Slight hardening in the steel irradiated at 400 °C mainly arises from the annihilation of defect clusters at this temperature. The occurrence of fine Ar bubbles with high number density during the Ar ion irradiation at 700 °C resulted in the significant hardening in the steel.