Assessment of the fracture toughness of neutron-irradiated nuclear graphite by 3D analysis of the crack displacement field

DOI: 10.1016/j.carbon.2020.09.072

Authors: Xiaochao Jin (University of Oxford; Xi’an Jiaotong University) , James Wade-Zhu (University of Birmingham) , Yang Chen (University of Oxford) , Paul M. Mummery (The University of Manchester) , Xueling Fan (Xi’an Jiaotong University) , T. James Marrow (University of Oxford)
Co-authored by industrial partner: No

Type: Journal Paper
Journal: Carbon , VOL 171 , PAGES 882 - 893

State: Published (Approved)
Published: October 2020
Diamond Proposal Number(s): 16668

Abstract: Digital volume correlation of in situ synchrotron X-ray computed tomographs has been used to measure the three-dimensional displacement fields around quasi-static propagating cracks in neutron irradiated and unirradiated graphite in specimens of the double cleavage drilled compression geometry. The crack tip location and crack opening were extracted from the displacement fields using a phase congruency edge detection method as cracks were propagated over ∼5 mm. The cracks propagated in mode I, maintaining a constant crack opening angle that was ∼50% smaller for the irradiated graphite. 3D finite element simulations, using the measured full field displacements as boundary conditions, obtained the critical elastic strain energy release rate for crack propagation by calculation of the domain contour J-integral. When the non-linear properties of unirradiated graphite were considered, the strain energy release rate for propagation was constant (180 ± 22 Jm-2) with increasing crack length. The irradiated graphite (fluence of 19.7 × 1020 neutrons cm−2 or 2.6 dpa, 4% weight loss by radiolytic oxidation) had linear elastic properties, and the strain energy release rate for propagation increased linearly from 118 ± 12Jm-2 to 485 ± 75 Jm-2 with crack length.

Subject Areas: Materials, Physics, Engineering


Instruments: I13-2-Diamond Manchester Imaging

Added On: 06/10/2020 08:50

Discipline Tags:

Radioactive Materials Materials Engineering & Processes Materials Science Engineering & Technology

Technical Tags:

Imaging Tomography