The effect of impurity on the deformation and fracture behavior in vanadium-20 wt.% titanium alloys

Abstract

Vanadium alloys are considered as candidate materials for fusion nuclear reactors because of their low activation. It is well recognized that the mechanical properties of solid solution strengthened V alloys containing Ti, Cr, Nb or Ta are strongly influenced by the amount of interstitial impurities like H, C and O. Among the various interstitial solute, the presence of H produces a larger shift in the ductile-brittle transition temperature (DBTT) to higher temperatures in the V alloys. A study on the individual and combined effects of P or S and neutron irradiation (10{sup 25} n/m{sup 2} at 438 C) or H on the ductility and DBTT in V-20 wt.% Ti alloys has been recently undertaken using a small punch (SP) testing technique. This is a companion paper of the above mentioned work. The deformation and fracture behavior in V-20 wt.% Ti alloys with different levels of impurities (S, C and O) is studied by means of the SP testing method together with scanning Auger microprobe (SAM).