Influence of operation factors on brittle fracture initiation and critical local normal stress in SE(B) type specimens of VVER reactor pressure vessel steels

A complex of mechanical tests and fractographic studies of VVER-1000 RPV SE(B) type surveillance specimens was carried out: the brittle fracture origins were revealed (non-metallic inclusions and structural boundaries) and the correlation between fracture toughness parameters (CTOD) and fracture surface parameters (CID) was established. A computational and experimental method of the critical local normal stress determination for different origin types was developed. The values of the critical local normal stress for the structural boundary origin type both for base and weld metal after thermal exposure and neutron irradiation are lower than that for initial state due to the lower cohesive strength of grain boundaries as a result of phosphorus segregation.