• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.409-416
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• 2009

Standard procedures for a fracture toughness testing require very severe restrictions for the specimen geometry to eliminate a size effect on the measured properties. Therefore, the used standard fracture toughness data results in the integrity assessment being irrationally conservative. However, a realistic fracture in general structures, such as in nuclear power plants, may develop under the low constraint condition of a large scale yielding with a shallow surface crack. In this paper, cleavage fracture toughness tests have been made on side-grooved PCVN (precracked charpy V-notch) type specimens (10 by 10 by 55 mm) with various crack depths. The constraint effects on the crack depth ratios were evaluated quantitatively by the developed scaling method using the 3-D finite element method. After the fracture toughness correction from scaling model, the statistical size effects were also corrected according to the standard ASTM E 1921 procedure. The results were evaluated through a comparison with the $T_0$ of the standard CT specimen. The corrected $T_0$ for all of the PCVN specimens showed a good agreement to within $5.4^{\circ}C$ regardless of the crack depth, while the averaged PCVN $T_0$ was $13.4^{\circ}C$ higher than the real CT test results.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2012

The fracture resistance and tensile properties of $Y_2O_3$ oxide dispersion strengthened steel containing 9 wt% Cr(9Cr-ODS) were measured at various temperatures up to $700^{\circ}C$. The fracture characteristics were compared with those of commercial E911 ferritic/martensitic steel. The strength of 9Cr-ODS was at least 30% higher than that of E911 steel at the test temperatures below $500^{\circ}C$. The strength difference between the two materials was almost diminished at $700^{\circ}C$. 9Cr-ODS showed cleavage fracture behavior at room temperature and unstable crack growth behaviors at $300^{\circ}C$ and $500^{\circ}C$. The J-R fracture resistance of 9Cr-ODS was much lower than that of E911 steel at all temperatures. It was deduced that the coarse $Cr_2O_3$ particles that were formed during the alloying process provided the crack initiation sites of cleavage fracture in 9Cr-ODS.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Heat Treatment
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.161-167
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• 2019

Impact toughness and fracture behavior were studied in five kinds of non-heat treating steels containing bainite; standard(0.25C-1.5Mn-0.5Cr-0.2Mo-0.15V), high V(0.3V), Ni(0.5Mn-2Ni), W(0.4W instead of Mo), and high C-Ni(0.35C-0.5Mn-2Ni) steels. The good hardness and impact toughness balance was exhibited in the $1100^{\circ}C$-rolled condition, while the impact toughness was deteriorated due to coarse grained microstructure in the $1200^{\circ}C$-rolled condition. The impact toughness decreased with increasing the hardness in all steels studied. The fracture behavior was also basically identical, that is, the fracture area was divided into 3 zones; shear and fibrous zone, fracture transition zone with ductile dimples and cleavage cracks, where the cracks initiate and grow to critical size, unstable cleavage fracture propagation zone. The energy absorbed for the critical crack formation through the plastic deformation inside the plastic zone in front of the notch root contributed to a mostly significant portion of the total impact energy.

• Journal of Korea Foundry Society
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.77-85
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• 2003

Some alloying elements such as Cr, B, Ti and Si were added individually or as a mixture to Fe-30 at.%Al alloys. The alloys were melted using an arc furnace and then heat-treated for homogenization at 1000$^{\circ}C$ for 7 days and followed by rolling at 1000$^{\circ}C$. The alloying elements on rolling characteristics were investigated by the microstructures and fracture mode before and after rolling. The microstructures before rolling showed that all of the alloys had equiaxed grains. On the other hand, the microstructures of rolling plane as well as its perpendicular plane became elongated after rolling. The alloys such as Fe-30Al, Fe-30Al-3Ti, Fe-30Al-0.5B, Fe-30Al-5Cr and Fe-30Al-3Ti-0.5B revealed better rolling behaviour from the point that intergranular and cleavage fractures were not fundamentally occurred. But the addition of 5Ti or 3Si to Fe-Al alloys had detrimental effects. The Ti-added alloy system such as Fe-30Al-5Ti, Fe-30Al-5Ti-5Cr, Fe-30Al-3Ti-5Cr and Fe-30Al-5Ti-0.5B were cracked through grain and showed cleavage fracture. The Si-added alloy system such as Fe-30Al-5Si, Fe-27Al-3Si and Fe-27Al-5Cr-3Si were cracked along the grain boundary and showed intergranular fracture. $DO_3{\leftrightarrow}B_2$ transition temperature of Fe-30at.%Al alloy was 520$^{\circ}C$, whereas the addition of 3Ti and 3Ti+0.5B comparably increased the temperature to 797 and 773$^{\circ}C$, respectively.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.52 no.8
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• pp.1732-1741
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• 2020

The structural integrity of welded joints in the reactor pressure vessel (RPV) is directly related to the safety of nuclear power plants. The RPV is made from SA508-III steel in a pressurized water reactor. In this study, we investigated the effects of temperature on the tensile and fracture toughness properties of Chinese SA508-III welded joint in different sampling areas in order to provide reference data for structural integrity assessments of RPVs. The specimens used in tensile and fracture toughness tests were fabricated from the base metal (BM), weld metal (WM), and the heat-affected zone (HAZ) in the welded joint. The representative testing temperatures included the ambient temperature (20 ℃), upper shelf temperature (100 ℃), and service temperature (320 ℃). The results showed that temperature greatly affected the fracture toughness (JIC) values for the SA508-III welded joint. The JIC values for BM and HAZ both decreased remarkably from 20 ℃ to 320 ℃. The fracture morphologies showed that the BM and HAZ in the welded joint exhibited fully ductile fracture at 20 ℃, whereas partial cleavage fracture was mixed in ductile fracture mode at 100 ℃ and 320 ℃. The WM exhibited the ductile and cleavage fracture mixed mode at various temperatures, and the JIC values showed slight changes.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.24 no.2 s.173
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• pp.303-310
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• 2000

Fracture toughness of five different reactor pressure vessel steels was characterized in the transition temperature region by the ASTM E1921-97 standard method using Charpy-sized small specimens. T he predominant fracture mode of the tested steels was transgranular cleavage in the test conditions. A statistical analysis based on the Weibull distribution was applied to the interpretation of the scattered fracture toughness data. The size-dependence of the measured fracture toughness values was also well predicted by means of the Weibull probabilistic analysis. The measured fracture toughness transition curves followed the temperature-dependence of the ASTM master curve within the expected scatter bands. Therefore, the fracture toughness characteristics in the transition region could be described by a single parameter, so-called the reference temperature (T。), for a given steel. The determined reference temperatures of the tested materials could not be correlated with the conventional index temperatures from Charpy impact tests.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.301-310
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• 2008

Applications of fracture mechanics in the strength analysis of ceramic materials have been lately studied by many researchers. Various test specimens have been proposed in order to investigate the fracture resistance of cracked bodies under mixed mode conditions. Double Cleavage Drilled Compression (DCDC) specimen, with a hole offset from the centerline is a configuration that is frequently used in subcritical crack growth studies of ceramics and glasses. This specimen exhibits a strong crack path stability that is due to the strongly negative T-stress term. In this paper the maximum tensile stress (MTS) criterion is employed for investigating theoretically the initiation of brittle fracture in the DCDC specimen under mixed mode conditions. It is shown that the T-stress has a significant influence on the predicted fracture load and the crack initiation angle. The theoretical results suggest that brittle fracture in the DCDC specimen is controlled by a combination of the singular stresses (characterized by KI and KII) and the non-singular stress term, T-stress.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.24 no.7 s.178
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• pp.1817-1825
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• 2000

The purpose of this study is to examine the fracture toughness of the welded pipe from the viewpoint of FATT for the S38 and S42 steels used widely as the pipe material. Post weld heat treatment(PW HT) was carried out like following conditions: temperature of 67$0^{\circ}C$, I hour of holding time and cooling in furnace. Fracture toughness was obtained by measuring the crack opening displacement(COD) of the notched specimens over the range of temperature from -14$0^{\circ}C$ to -$25^{\circ}C$. Hardness values at fusion line near around were the highest and the microstructures at welded zone were coarsened. Regardless of the pipe materials, COD and temperature curves of the as-welds were moved toward higher temperature compared with those of the parents. However, COD and temperature curves of the PWHT specimens were positioned at lower temperature compared with those of the as-welds. The more heat input causes to decrease the COD values at the constant temperature. It was verified through the recrystallization treatment that PWHT was attributed to move toward lower temperature region considerably due to the improved plastic deformation at the same applied COD value of 0.3mm and softening effect. In case of the weldment of S38 steel, cleavage fracture was observed at -105$^{\circ}C$ unlike the structural steels, in which brittle fracture mode was generally shown at - 196$^{\circ}C$.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.47 no.9
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• pp.533-541
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• 2009

Materials used for a reactor pressure vessel(RPV) are required high strength and toughness, which determine the safety margin and life of a reactor. Ni-Mo-Cr low alloy steel shows better mechanical properties than existing RPV steels due to higher Ni and Cr contents compared to the existing RPV steels. The present study focuses on effects of Ni, Cr contents on the cleavage fracture toughness of Ni-Mo-Cr low alloy steels in the transition temperature region. The fracture toughness was characterized by a 3-point bend test of precracked Charpy V-notch(PCVN) specimens based on ASTM E1921-08. The test results indicated that the fracture toughness was considerably improved with an increase of Ni and Cr contents. Especially, control of Cr content was more effective in improving fracture toughness than manipulating Ni content, though Charpy impact toughness was changed more extensively by adjusting Ni content. These differences between changes in the fracture toughness and that in the impact toughness were derived from microstructural features, such as martensite lath size and carbide precipitation behavior.

• Proceedings of the Korean Powder Metallurgy Institute Conference
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• 2006.09b
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• pp.790-791
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• 2006

The fracture behavior and mechanical characteristics of sintered rare-earth magnets were investigated. It shows that the fracture behavior and bending strength of the magnets obviously exhibit anisotropy. Sm-Co magnets tend to cleavage fracture in the close-packed (0001) plane or in the ($10\bar{1}1$) plane. The fracture mechanism of $Nd_2Fe_{14}B$ magnet mainly appears to be intergranular fracture. The anisotropy of fracture behavior and mechanical strength of sintered rare-earth magnets is caused mainly by the strong crystal-structure anisotropy and the grain alignment texture. The effects of Nd content, and Pr, Dy substitution on the impact stability of $Nd_2Fe_{14}B$ magnets were also reported.