Applicability of Miniature Compact Tension Specimens for Fracture Toughness Evaluation of Highly Neutron Irradiated Reactor Pressure Vessel Steels

The applicability of miniature compact tension (Mini-C(T)) specimens to fracture toughness evaluation of neutron-irradiated reactor pressure vessel (RPV) steels was investigated. Three types of RPV steels neutron-irradiated to a high-fluence region were prepared and manufactured as Mini-C(T) specimens according to Japan Electric Association Code (JEAC) 4216-2015. Through careful selection of the test temperature by considering previously obtained mechanical properties data, valid fracture toughness, and reference temperature (T_o) was obtained with a relatively small number of specimens. Comparing the fracture toughness and T_o values determined using other larger specimens with those determined using the Mini-C(T) specimens, T_o values of both unirradiated and irradiated Mini-C(T) specimens were found to be the acceptable margin of error. The scatter of 1T-equivalent fracture toughness values of both unirradiated and irradiated materials obtained using Mini-C(T) specimens did not differ significantly from the values obtained using larger specimens. The correlation between the Charpy 41 J transition temperature (T_41J) and the T_o values agreed very well with that of the data in the literature, regardless of specimen size and fracture toughness of the materials before irradiation. Based on these findings, it was concluded that Mini-C(T) specimens can be applied to fracture toughness evaluation of neutron-irradiated materials without significant specimen size dependence.