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Conference Article: Fracture Behaviour Of Nuclear Graphite

Andrew Hodgkins, James Marrow, Paul Mummery, Laurent Babout, Manchester Materials Science Centre, Manchester, UNITED KINGDOM; Barry Marsden, Alex Fok, The Manchester School of Engineering, University of Manchester, Manchester, UNITED KINGDOM

Abstract

X-ray Microtomography and Electronic Speckle Pattern Interferometry (ESPI) have been used to study the crack propagation behaviour of Gilsocarbon nuclear graphite. ESPI has been used to study the strain distributions and their development around growing cracks. XR-T has been used observe the three-dimensional crack shape within the specimen during in-situ loading experiments. Permanent strains are observed ahead of the crack tip and crack bridging ligaments are observed in the crack wake. These observations may be used to interpret the R-curve behaviour of nuclear graphite.

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key words: Gas Cooled Reactor, Nuclear Technology
Reference:
Proceedings of the Conference on High Temperature Reactors, Beijing, China, September, 22-24, 2004
International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna (Austria)
HTR-2004, pp:1-5