Generating material strength standards of aluminum alloys for research reactors I. Yield strength values Sy and tensile strength values Su

Aluminum alloys are frequently used as structural materials for research reactors. The material strength standards, however, such as the yield strength values (Sy), the tensile strength values (Su) and the design fatigue curve—which are needed to use aluminum alloys as structural materials in “design by analysis”—for those materials have not been determined yet. Hence, a series of material tests was performed and the results were statistically analyzed with the aim of generating these material strength standards. This paper, the first in a series on material strength standards of aluminum alloys, describes the aspects of the tensile properties of the standards. The draft standards were compared with MITI no. 501 as well as with the ASME codes, and the trend of the available data also was examined. It was revealed that the draft proposal could be adopted as the material strength standards, and that the values of the draft standards at and above 150°C for A6061-T6 and A6063-T6 could be applied only to the reactor operating conditions III and IV. Also the draft standards have already been adopted in the Science and Technology Agency regulatory guide (standards for structural design of nuclear research plants).