Author(s)

J Aktaa, B Dolensky, R Krieg, G Messemer, R Schmitt, P Julisch, H Talja, G Solomos & R Kieselbach

Abstract

Local failure strains for different specimens of a ferritic steel used for nuclear reactor pressure vessels are investigated. The specimens have design typical holes or notches. Different temperatures are considered. Also the size of the specimens is varied, in order to find possible size effects, The determination of the very local failure strains required the development of the so-called \“vanishing gap procedure” which is based on post test examinations of the geometry of the fracture surfaces and subsequent finite element analyses. First results yield rather high local failure strains between 70% and 140%, The decrease of the failure strains with increasing specimen size is moderate.

Keywords