Fracture toughness evaluation of reactor pressure vessel steels by master curve method using miniature compact tension specimens

Tobita, Toru; Nishiyama, Yutaka; Otsu, Takuyo; Udagawa, Makoto; Katsuyama, Jinya; Onizawa, Kunio

Journal of Pressure Vessel Technology, 137(5), p.051405_1 - 051405_8, 2015/10

https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4029428

We conducted a series of fracture toughness tests based on the Master curve method for several specimen size and shapes, such as 0.16T-CT, pre-cracked Charpy type, 0.4T-CT and 1T-CT specimens, in commercially manufactured 5 kinds of A533B class1 steels with different impurity contents and fracture toughness levels. The reference temperature () values determined from the 0.16T-CT specimens were overall in good agreement with those determined from the 1T-CT specimens. The scatter of the 1T-equivalent fracture toughness values obtained from the 0.16T-CT specimens was equivalent to that obtained from the other larger specimens. The higher loading rate gave rise to a slightly higher , and this dependency was almost the same for the larger specimens. We suggested an optimum test temperature on the basis of the Charpy transition temperature for determining using the 0.16T-CT specimens.