Radiation damage characterization in reactor pressure vessel steels with nonlinear ultrasound

K. H. Matlack, J. Y. Kim, J. J. Wall, J. Qu, L. J. Jacobs

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

Nuclear generation currently accounts for roughly 20% of the US baseload power generation. Yet, many US nuclear plants are entering their first period of life extension and older plants are currently undergoing assessment of technical basis to operate beyond 60 years. This means that critical components, such as the reactor pressure vessel (RPV), will be exposed to higher levels of radiation than they were originally intended to withstand. Radiation damage in reactor pressure vessel steels causes microstructural changes such as vacancy clusters, precipitates, dislocations, and interstitial loops that leave the material in an embrittled state. The development of a nondestructive evaluation technique to characterize the effect of radiation exposure on the properties of the RPV would allow estimation of the remaining integrity of the RPV with time. Recent research has shown that nonlinear ultrasound is sensitive to radiation damage. The physical effect monitored by nonlinear ultrasonic techniques is the generation of higher harmonic frequencies in an initially monochromatic ultrasonic wave, arising from the interaction of the ultrasonic wave with microstructural features such as dislocations, precipitates, and their combinations. Current findings relating the measured acoustic nonlinearity parameter to increasing levels of neutron fluence for different representative RPV materials are presented.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publication40th Annual Review of Progress in Quantitative Nondestructive Evaluation - Incorporating the 10th International Conference on Barkhausen Noise and Micromagnetic Testing
Pages1007-1013
Number of pages7
DOIs
StatePublished - 2014
Event40th Annual Review of Progress in Quantitative Nondestructive Evaluation, QNDE 2013, Incorporating the 10th International Conference on Barkhausen and Micro-Magnetics, ICBM 2013 - Baltimore, MD, United States
Duration: 21 Jul 201326 Jul 2013

Publication series

NameAIP Conference Proceedings
Volume1581 33
ISSN (Print)0094-243X
ISSN (Electronic)1551-7616

Conference

Conference40th Annual Review of Progress in Quantitative Nondestructive Evaluation, QNDE 2013, Incorporating the 10th International Conference on Barkhausen and Micro-Magnetics, ICBM 2013
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityBaltimore, MD
Period21/07/1326/07/13

Keywords

  • Nonlinear Ultrasonic Testing
  • Radiation Damage in Steel

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