Abstract
Reactor pressure vessels (RPVs) are one of the main barriers against nuclear accidents, therefore good toughness is indispensable for keeping the integrity of RPVs to prevent the leakage of radioactive substances. It is well known that high temperature and large thermal gradient of nuclear accidents would lead to embrittlement or even rupture of RPVs. However, how damages originate in severe nuclear accidents is still indistinct. This study is aimed to reveal the embrittlement mechanism under a large temperature gradient in quenched RPV steels. It is found that certain strengthening as well as remarkable embrittlement occurs after quenched, further investigations find it probably derive from the generation of plenty of Moiré fringes and dislocation networks, which are supposed to be generated by shearing of crystal planes. This paper reports the deterioration phenomenon caused by a large thermal gradient, reveals the origins remarkable embrittlement and indicates that extra attention must be aroused to take this thermal-stress-induced embrittlement into consideration in nuclear accidents analysis.
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