Investigation of Fe-1.0% Cu surrogate specimens with nonlinear ultrasound

This research explores the sensitivity of nonlinear ultrasound (NLU) to the changes in microstructure of heat treated Fe-1.0 at.% Cu binary alloy. Results from experimental measurements and a theoretical model each show that the acoustic nonlinearity parameter, β increases with increasing Cu-precipitate radius. The iron-copper material investigated in this research serves as a surrogate material to simulate the evolution of radiation damage as a result of copper nanocluster precipitation that occurs in reactor pressure vessels (RPV) of light water nuclear power reactors. With RPVs seeing more neutron cycles than originally anticipated, it is imperative to develop nondestructive evaluation (NDE) techniques capable of evaluating the integrity of these structures.