Papers by Keyword: Ball Indentation

Abstract: 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.

Abstract: When huge energy transfer systems like nuclear power plants and steam power plants are operated for long times at high temperatures, mechanical properties change and ductile-brittle transition temperature increases by degradation. So we must estimate the degradation in order to assess safety, life expectancy, and other operation parameters. The sub-sized specimen test method using the surveillance specimen, and BI (Ball Indentation) method were developed for evaluating the integrity of metallic components. In this study, we will present the evaluation of the ductile-brittle transition temperature using the BI test and the sub-sized specimen test. The four classes of the thermally aged 1Cr-1Mo-0.25V specimens were prepared using an artificially accelerated aging method. The tensile test, the fracture toughness test, and the BI test were performed. The results of the fracture toughness tests using the sub-sized specimens were compared with those of the BI test. The evaluation technique of the ductile-brittle transition temperature using the BI test was also discussed. Our results show that the ductile-brittle transition temperatures rose as the aging time increased. We suggested that the fracture toughness results of the sub-sized specimen test and the IEF results of the BI test could be used in the estimation of the ductile-brittle transition temperature as material degrades.