| Abstract Scope |
Irradiation damage can induce significant microstructural changes in nuclear materials, leading to the nucleation of nano-sized precipitates and an enhancement of dislocation activity. This, in turn, results in swelling, creep, hardening, and embrittlement. The extent of irradiation damage indirectly gets manifested in a shift in Ductile to Brittle Transition Temperature (DBTT). We, therefore, develop a microstructure-sensitive model to predict this ductile to brittle transition (DBT) in ferritic steel primarily used in nuclear reactors. A crystal plasticity cohesive finite element method (CP-CFEM)-based framework is developed to capture different fracture micro-mechanisms as a function of temperature. To account for the stochastic nature of fracture, we digitally generate statistically equivalent microstructure sample sets (SEMSS), in which cohesive elements are inserted throughout the microstructure (inside the grain and along the grain boundary). Our framework provides a reasonable prediction of DBT of ferritic steel as a function of the microstructure. |