A ROUND ROBIN PROGRAM OF MASTER CURVE EVALUATION USING MINIATURE C(T) SPECIMENS-3RD REPORT: COMPARISON OF T-0 UNDER VARIOUS SELECTIONS OF TEMPERATURE CONDITIONS -

The Master Curve approach for the fracture toughness evaluation is expected to be a powerful tool to ensure the reliability of long-term used RPV steels. In order to get sufficient number of data for the Master Curve approach coexistent with the present surveillance program for RPVs, the utilization of miniature specimens, which can be taken from broken halves of surveillance Charpy specimens, is important. CRIEPI developed the test technique for the miniature C(T) specimens (Mini-CT), whose dimensions are 4 x 10 x 10 mm, and verified the basic applicability of Master Curve approach by means of Mini-CT for the determination of fracture toughness of typical Japanese RPV steels. A round robin program is organized in order to assure the robustness of the testing procedure to the difference in testing machines or operators. The first and second round robin tests (PVP2012-78661 [1], PVP2013-97936 [2]) suggested that the reference temperature T-0 evaluation technique by Mini-CT specimen potentially is fairly robust in regard to difference in testing machines and operators, and gives similar loading rate dependency to the larger C(T) specimens. As the final year of the round robin program, "blind tests" were carried out. Here, detailed material information such as the type of materials, estimated T-0, existing fracture toughness data for the material, were not given with the specimen, and 6 organizations independently selected the test temperature based on Charpy full curve of the tested material. The selection of test temperature has the variation of -120 degrees C to -150 degrees C among the organizations. 8 to 20 specimens in a set were subjected to the Master Curve evaluation and all the 6 organizations successfully obtained valid T-0. The scatter range in T-0 was at most 16 degrees C, which was within the acceptable scatter range specified in ASTM E1921-10e1. The selection of test temperature seems to give limited effect as like as that in larger specimens.