Comparison of elastic-plastic fracture toughness of irradiated and cold-worked JPCA using miniaturized DCT specimens

J-R curves of an austenitic stainless steel in solution annealed and cold worked conditions were obtained using miniaturized fracture toughness specimens and standard compact tension specimens. Results indicate that the specimen size effect for the cold worked steel was small. JQ values of irradiated miniaturized specimens agreed well with those of cold worked specimens with similar yield stress levels. This suggests that the irradiation induced degradation of the fracture toughness is mainly dependent upon the irradiation hardening. (orig.)