Fracture properties of neutron-irradiated martensitic 9Cr-WVTa steels below room temperature

Fracture properties of the reduced activation martensitic 9Cr-1WVTa and 9Cr-3WVTa steels were investigated by carrying out instrumented Charpy impact tests and tensile tests at temperatures below room temperature after irradiation in the Japan Materials Testing Reactor at 493 and 538 K. Modified 9Cr-1MoVNb steel was also examined for comparison. The irradiation-induced increase in ductile-to-brittle transition temperature was 53, 26 and 40 K for the 1/3 size Charpy specimens of 9Cr-1WVTa, 9Cr-3WVTa and 9Cr-1MoVNb steels, respectively, which resulted primarily from the irradiation-induced increase in yield stress. The cleavage fracture stress was 1820-1870 MPa for the three steels in unirradiated conditions, which was scarcely affected by irradiation. The deflections to the maximum load and to the brittle fracture initiation were decreased by irradiation. In the tensile test, quasi-cleavage fracture occurred at 77 K in both unirradiated and irradiated conditions. The cleavage fracture stress was 1320-1380 MPa for the tensile specimens of the three steels, which was about 1.4 times smaller than that for the Charpy specimens. ((orig.))