On comparison of fracture toughness of irradiated and thermally aged decommissioned nuclear weld metals with miniature specimen test technique

This paper investigates the fracture toughness of thermally aged and irradiated weld metals extracted from head and beltline regions of a decommissioned nuclear reactor pressure vessel. Miniature compact tension specimens are fabricated from the thermally aged reactor pressure vessel head weld as well from the circumferential and axial beltline welds having fluences of 2.90 × 10¹⁶n/cm² and 7.94 × 10¹⁷n/cm², respectively. Master curve approach in accordance with the ASTM E1921 is applied to determine the reference temperature T₀ and it is found to be − 113.5 °C, −104.4 °C, and − 89.3 °C for the reactor pressure vessel head, axial beltline, and circumferential beltline welds, respectively. In addition, the multimodal reference temperature T_m to assess the homogeneity of welds as well as key curve analysis for the quality assurance of testing are also provided. Fractographic analysis identified variations in crack initiation sites and microstructural inhomogeneities, particularly in the irradiated beltline welds. Overall, fracture mechanical testing of the materials demonstrated that miniature compact tension specimens are effective for characterizing the fracture toughness of limited surveillance weld materials, revealing differences due to irradiation and weld location.