The Effect of Accelerated Irradiation on Fracture Behaviour

The initiation fracture toughness of C-Mn pressure vessel steel plate and submerged-arc weld material has been measured after accelerated irradiation to nominal doses of 5 × 10¹⁷ n·cm⁻² and 5 × 10¹⁸ n·cm⁻² at 180°C (E > lMeV). Although tensile and Charpy impact specimens exposed at the same time showed appreciable property changes, a minimal effect on initiation fracture toughness was observed. The results indicate that an existing correlation between initiation fracture toughness, yield strength and upper shelf Charpy impact energy proposed for high strength steels (Barsom and Rolfe, 1970) is applicable to the submerged-arc weld material. A new correlation is proposed for the plate material.