Irradiation dose and temperature dependence of fracture toughness in high dose HT9 steel from the fuel duct of FFTF

Abstract

To expand the knowledge base for fast reactor core materials, fracture toughness has been evaluated for high dose HT9 steel using miniature disk compact tension (DCT) specimens. The HT9 steel DCT specimens were machined from the ACO-3 fuel duct of the Fast Flux Test Facility (FFTF), which achieved high doses in the range of 3–148dpa at 378–504°C. The static fracture resistance (J-R) tests have been performed in a servohydraulic testing machine in vacuum at selected temperatures including room temperature, 200°C, and each irradiation temperature. Brittle fracture with a low toughness less than 50MPa√m occurred in room temperature tests when irradiation temperature was below 400°C, while ductile fracture with stable crack growth was observed when irradiation temperature was higher. No fracture toughness less than 100MPa√m was measured when the irradiation temperature was above 430°C. It was shown that the influence of irradiation temperature was dominant in fracture toughness while the irradiation dose has only limited influence over the wide dose range 3–148dpa. A slow decrease of fracture toughness with test temperature above room temperature was observed for the nonirradiated and high temperature (>430°C) irradiation cases, which indicates that the ductile–brittle transition temperatures (DBTTs) in those conditions are lower than room temperature. A comparison with the collection of existing data confirmed the dominance of irradiation temperature in the fracture toughness of HT9 steels.