Investigation of the Master Curve Concept for Ferritic Ductile Cast Iron
- The current framework for safety assessment of ferritic ductile cast iron (DCI) containers for transport and storage of radioactive materials applies fracture mechanics principles. As established by the IAEA safety standard SSG 26, prevention of crack initiation is the governing criterion and no reliance in design should be placed on any predicted ductile tearing resistance. Similarly, the ASME-Code, Sect. III, Div. 3 explicitly deals with DCI and requires a safety proof for dynamic loading conditions. However, information given in the guidelines does not seem to be sufficient to appropriately perform such dynamic fracture mechanics safety assessments. The ongoing German research project MCGUSS is tailored to tackle this status. In MCGUSS, the application potential of the probabilistic fracture mechanics master curve (MC) concept according to ASTM E1921 is being systematically investigated and potential modifications specific for dynamic brittle fracture of DCI will be identified.The current framework for safety assessment of ferritic ductile cast iron (DCI) containers for transport and storage of radioactive materials applies fracture mechanics principles. As established by the IAEA safety standard SSG 26, prevention of crack initiation is the governing criterion and no reliance in design should be placed on any predicted ductile tearing resistance. Similarly, the ASME-Code, Sect. III, Div. 3 explicitly deals with DCI and requires a safety proof for dynamic loading conditions. However, information given in the guidelines does not seem to be sufficient to appropriately perform such dynamic fracture mechanics safety assessments. The ongoing German research project MCGUSS is tailored to tackle this status. In MCGUSS, the application potential of the probabilistic fracture mechanics master curve (MC) concept according to ASTM E1921 is being systematically investigated and potential modifications specific for dynamic brittle fracture of DCI will be identified. While MCGUSS covers testing of a high number of SE(B)- and C(T)-type specimens, this poster focuses on preliminary C(T) results. The obtained data was statistically analyzed, and current results of MC analyses are discussed. Special emphasis of MCGUSS is on using optical and scanning electron microscopy to link microstructural damage and failure processes to the fracture toughness data gained. A fracture mechanism called "specimen size-dependent arrest of local brittle fractures before global brittle failure by weakest link" is proposed to describe the established dynamic toughness data. Concerning the MC concept, it was shown that the ASTM E1921 procedure cannot simply be adopted to dynamic DCI toughness data on a one-to-one basis. Material specific modifications are being investigated and the DCI dynamic fracture toughness data base is to be expanded.…

