The Master Curve Fracture Toughness Evaluation of Irradiated Plate Material JRQ Using Miniature-C(T) Specimens

The Master Curve approach is a powerful tool to evaluate material-specific fracture toughness of ferritic steels, such as RPV steels, using a limited number of specimens. However, preparing sufficient volume of material for the generally used 25.4mm-thickness fracture toughness specimens is difficult for irradiated reactor pressure vessel (RPV) steels of existing surveillance programs. Utilization of miniature specimens, which can be machined from broken halves of standard Charpy specimens, is a possible solution to address this issue. CRIEPI has been working on the development of test technique utilizing a miniature C(T) (Mini-C(T)) specimens, whose dimensions are 4×10×9.6 mm (0.16 inch thickness specimen). The basic applicability of the Mini-C(T) Master Curve approach on un-irradiated materials had been confirmed for the base metals of typical Japanese RPV steels [1]. International round robin tests [2–4] confirmed the reproducibility of fracture toughness data obtained by Mini-C(T) specimens. Applicability of the Mini-C(T) specimen on neutron irradiated materials is of another important subject to be ensured. In the present study, the European standard plate material JRQ, which is in irradiated state up to the fluence of 1.85×1019 n/cm2 was subjected to the Master Curve evaluation with Mini-C(T) specimens. Two laboratories, A and B, as well as CRIEPI were involved in this study. Both of the laboratories separately and successfully carried out machining, pre-cracking and fracture toughness testing without excessive technical difficulty even though the material was highly irradiated. Consistent reference temperature, To was estimated as 40°C (Lab. A) or 32°C (Lab. B). The difference between the two laboratories was reasonably small. To was also consistent with that by pre-cracked Charpy V-notch specimens (PCCv), or 1-inch thickness C(T) specimens examined in the former IAEA Coordinated Research Program [5]. As a results of the investigation, the relevance of using Mini-C(T) specimens for irradiated JRQ material was demonstrated.