Statistical analyses of fracture toughness results for two irradiated high-copper welds

The objectives of the Heavy-Section Steel Irradiation Program Fifth Irradiation Series were to determine the effects of neutron irradiation on the transition temperature shift and the shape of the KIc curve described in Sect. 6 of the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code. Two submerged-arc welds with copper contents of 0.23 and 0.31% were commercially fabricated in 215-mm-thick plates. Charpy V-notch (CVN) impact, tensile, drop-weight, and compact specimens up to 203.2 mm thick [1T, 2T, 4T, 6T, and 8T C(T)] were tested to provide a large data base for unirradiated material. Similar specimens with compacts up to 4T were irradiated at about 288 degrees C to a mean fluence of about 1.5 x 1019 neutrons/cm2 (>1 MeV) in the Oak Ridge Research Reactor. Both linear-elastic and elastic-plastic fracture mechanics methods were used to analyze all cleavage fracture results and local cleavage instabilities (pop-ins). Evaluation of the results showed that the cleavage fracture toughness values determined at initial pop-ins fall within the same scatter band as the values from failed specimens; thus, they were included in the data base for analysis (all data are designated KJc)