On brittle fracture resistance determination of chromium stainless steel irradiated in ion accelerator

Abstract

The possibility of brittle fracture resistance (BFR) determination is investigated with mechanical testing for ion-irradiated chromium stainless steel. To consider the ion irradiation effect on material properties disc specimens in initial and irradiated states were tested by mechanical loading until brittle fracture. The micro- hardness of specimens before and after ion irradiation was also determined. It was found that the microhardness of ion-irradiated steel is higher than the microhardness of steel in initial state. However, critical loads for brittle fracture of disc specimens are practically equal for initial and ion-irradiated states. The performed calculations, SEM investigations and also analysis of mechanisms of cleavage microcrack nucleation in disc specimen surfaces allowed us to explain the brittle fracture test results. As fracture tests do not allow us to estimate BFR, it is proposed to estimate BFR by microhardness measurement results.