Estimation of fracture toughness of cast stainless steels in LWR [light water reactor] systems

A procedure and correlations are presented for predicting fracture toughness J-R curves and impact strength of aged cast stainless steels from known material information. The ''saturation'' fracture toughness of a specific cast stainless steel, i.e., the minimum fracture toughness that would ever be achieved for the material after long-term service, is estimated from the degree of embrittlement at saturation. Degree of embrittlement is characterized in terms of room-temperature Charpy-impact energy. The variation of the impact energy at saturation for different materials is described in terms of a material parameter Φ, which is determined from the chemical composition and ferrite morphology. The fracture toughness J-R curve for the material is then obtained from correlations between room-temperature Charpy-impact energy and fracture toughness. Fracture toughness as a function of time and temperature of reactor service is estimated from the kinetics of embrittlement, which is determined from the chemical composition. Examples for estimating impact strength and fracture toughness of cast stainless steel components during reactor service are described. A common ''lower-bound'' J-R curve for cast stainless steels with unknown chemical composition is also defined. 15 refs., 19 figs., 3 tabs