A Study on the Nondestructive Evaluation of Material Degradation

The mechanical properties of in-service facilities under harsh environment a decrease as materials of the facilities degrade. This decrease of mechanical properties can affect the safety operation of the facilities. Therefore, the extent of degradation due to prolonged service exposure must be estimated. Nondestructive evaluation method is a good technique for monitoring the change of mechanical properties of in-service facilities. The most widely used nondestructive methods are the ultrasonic method and the indentation test, which is advantageous with respect of applicability to in-service facilities. The modified theoretical Vary's equation, considering nonlinear response due to material degradation, was proposed for obtaining the correlations between ultrasonic parameters and fracture toughness. Experimental results showed that ultrasonic attenuation, velocity, and nonlinear parameters have significant correlation with fracture toughness and yield strength. The nondestructive evaluation system can be used to obtain the yield strength and ultrasonic parameters simultaneously, and this information can be used to predict the fracture toughness. The predicted results produced good correlations with the experimental results, indicating that the nondestructive evaluation system can be effective in evaluating material properties and degradation, and the life time of facilities.