| About this Abstract |
| Meeting |
2021 TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition
|
| Symposium
|
Composite Materials for Nuclear Applications
|
| Presentation Title |
Sub-critical Crack Initiation, Coalescence and Propagation in Nuclear Graphite Studied by High-speed Pink Beam Synchrotron Tomography |
| Author(s) |
Thomas Zillhardt, Dong Liu, James Marrow |
| On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
Thomas Zillhardt |
| Abstract Scope |
The United Kingdom has fourteen active Advanced Gas-Cooled moderated by Gilsocarbon graphite, a polygranular quasi-brittle that also acts as a neutron reflector and as a structural component. The development of keyway root cracking in graphite is a potential limiting factor for the lifetime of the AGRs. Gilsocarbon graphite is a heterogeneous material that contains many defects at different length scales which are distributed in both the matrix and the filler particles. To understand how keyway root cracking may be affected by microstructural differences, we have studied how damage occurs and is accommodated at the microstructural level, prior to fracture, and observed the initiation, nucleation, coalescence and propagation of sub-critical cracks, and we have also made observations of microstructural damage leading to brittle fracture. This has been made possible with the use of advanced characterization techniques at the PSICHE beamline, where we have carried out in-situ high-speed continuous X-Ray tomography. |
| Proceedings Inclusion? |
Planned: |