Capability of nonlinear ultrasonic methods to monitor radiation damage in reactor pressure vessel steels


Capability of nonlinear ultrasonic methods to monitor radiation damage in reactor pressure vessel steels

Matlack, K.; Wall, J.; Kim, J. Y.; Qu, J.; Jacobs, L. J.; Viehrig, H.-W.

Nonlinear ultrasonic methods have the potential to monitor increasing levels of irradiation damage in reactor pressure vessel (RPV) steels. Currently, there is no nondestructive evaluation method to monitor irradiation damage in RPV steels, so monitoring of structural material state relies on models and can result in costly and unnecessary shut-downs. Previous research shows that nonlinear ultrasonic methods are able to characterize irradiation damage since they are sensitive to microstructural changes such as dislocations and precipitates. Irradiation causes these microstructural changes in RPV steels, eventually resulting in embrittlement of the material. This embrittlement leaves the component susceptible to brittle fracture and irradiation-assisted stress corrosion cracking. In this work, the nonlinear ultrasonic parameter was measured on steel samples of typical RPV material with increasing levels of neutron fluence. A fixture was designed enabling a quick and intuitive set up for measurements. Results show that the nonlinear ultrasonic parameter can characterize increasing levels of fluence up to a certain level. Implications of these results in terms of future in situ monitoring of RPV steel components in nuclear reactors are discussed.

Keywords: Nonlinear ultrasound; Nondestructive evaluation; Irradiation damage; Reactor pressure vessel steel

  • Lecture (Conference)
    NuMat 2012: The Nuclear Materials Conference, 22.-25.10.2012, Osaka, Japan

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-17906
Publ.-Id: 17906