Influence of ageing on the quasistatic fracture toughness of an SS 316(N) weld at ambient and elevated temperatures

The leak before break analysis of SS 316L(N) components of the prototype fast breeder reactor requires the elastic plastic fracture toughness parameter J for 0.2 mm crack extension, J0.2, especially for the welds, at the operating temperatures. The J–R curves for the welds produced using the consumable developed by Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, were determined in the as-welded condition as well as after thermal ageing (923 K/4200 h) conditions at 298 K and 643 K, using unloading compliance method for 298 K and normalization method for 643 K. The aged material exhibited pop-in crack extensions of magnitudes that, according to ASTM E1820 standard, could be ignored for multi-specimen data analysis for determining J0.2. Therefore, for this condition, Jnom–Δa curves were established using the multiple specimen method and also single specimen normalization method; for the latter, a modification earlier developed by the authors for accounting for small pop-in crack extensions was used. The value of J0.2 from both methods showed excellent reproducibility. Ageing is seen to reduce the toughness of this material considerably at both the testing temperatures.