Destructive and Ultrasonic Investigations of Damage Development in Metallic Materials
Damage development due to creep under uniaxial tension at elevated temperatures is assessed using destructive and non-destructive methods in steels, commonly used in power plants or chemical industry, and in aluminium alloy used in aircrafts for responsible elements. The results obtained using two different destructive methods for assessments of damage development are critically discussed. In the first method the specimens of steel after different amounts of creep prestraining were stretched up to failure and variations of the selected tension parameters were taken into account for damage identification. In the second one, a damage degree was evaluated by studying variations of an initial yield locus position in the stress space and by determination of the yield loci dimensions. The ultrasonic investigations were selected as the non-destructive method for damage development evaluation.
Detecting the Oxidation of Zircaloy Claddings by Infrared Interference
As the expected life of dry cask storage installations increases, it becomes increasingly desirable to monitor the state and performance of the cask internals to ensure that they continue to safely contain the radioactive materials in the fuel. One aspect of this task is the monitoring of oxidation of the cladding. With this consideration in mind, Zircaloy-4 (Zr-4) cladding samples were exposed to air at 500∘C for various duration times to create thin corrosion oxide layers on the surface. The surfaces of the oxidized samples were then systematically scanned by Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy to achieve the infrared (IR) interference spectra and study the relationship between the optical interference and the various thicknesses of the oxide layers. The profiles of the oxide layers were verified througth cross-sectional examination by Scanning Electron Microscopy. The IR interference patterns varied with oxide layer thickness, enabling the determination of oxide layer thickness of values, i...
An experimental study of the effect of the prestraining history on the yield surfaces of an aluminium alloy
Abstract Experimental results for fifty-six specimens of an aluminium alloy are presented in a study of the effect of the prestraining path on the shape of the yield surfaces. A special experimental technique has been applied, consisting of cutting out flat specimens from the prestrained sheet material. Experimental results show that if two various loading paths have different initial sectors and a common final sector, the influence of these initial sectors on the yield surface is the smaller the longer is the final common sector. A theoretical analysis of that problem on the basis of the kinematic workhardening rule is also presented.