Residual stress measurements in polycrystalline graphite with micro-Raman spectroscopy

Micro-Raman microscopy technique is applied to evaluate unevenly distributed residual stresses in the various constituents of polygranular reactor grades graphite. The wavenumber based Raman shift (cm⁻¹) corresponds to the local residual stress and measurements of stress dependent first order Raman spectra in graphite have enabled localized residual stress values to be determined. The bulk polygranular graphite of reactor grades – Gilsocarbon, NBG-18 and PGA – are examined to illustrate the residual stress variations in their constituents. Binder phase and filler particles have shown to be under compressive and tensile stresses, respectively. Among the studied graphite grades, the binder phase in Gilsocarbon has the highest residual stress and NBG-18 has the lowest value. Filler particles in Gilsocarbon have the highest residual stress and PGA showed the lowest, this is most likely due to the morphology of the coke particles used in the manufacturing and applied processing techniques for fabrications. Stresses have also been evaluated along the peripheral of pores and at the tips of the cracks. Cracks in filler and binder phases have shown mixed behaviour, compressive as well as tensile, whereas pores in binder and filler particles have shown compressive behaviour. The stresses in these graphitic constituents are of the order of MPa. Non-destructive analyses presented in this study make the current state-of-the-art technique a powerful method for the study of stress variations near the graphite surface and are expected to increase its use further in property determination analysis of low to highly fluence irradiated graphite samples from the material test reactors. - Highlights: • Micro-Raman spectroscopy can measure significantly small residual stresses. • Gilsocarbon, NBG-18 and PGA graphite were evaluated for residual stresses. • Residual stresses in the constituents of graphite were evaluated. • Binder and filler particles are often found under compressive and tensile stresses