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FIFTH CANADIAN CONFERENCE ON NONDESTRUCTIVE ... - IAEA

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C<strong>ON</strong>CLUSI<strong>ON</strong><br />

- 254 -<br />

In order to verify tô what degree ultrasonic attenuation can be used to nondestructively<br />

predict the fracture toughness of a material, the ultrasonic<br />

attenuation behavior of an AISI type 403 stainless steel exhibiting a smooth<br />

ductile to brittle transition was studied as a function of temperature. Over<br />

the temperature range studied (-60°C to +40°C) the yield strength and fracture<br />

toughness changed respectively by 7 and 250%. The ultrasonic attenuation,<br />

however, varied by less than the 6% expected from grain boundary scattering<br />

theory, giving no indication of the large change in Kic. An analysis of the<br />

results in terms of Vary's empirical model (equation 2) which appears to give<br />

good results for cases where Kic is varied by changes in microstructure<br />

(grain size, heat treatment) gave no correlation between attenuation and<br />

K ic / a y<br />

One of the main difficulties of nondestructively characterizing a material's<br />

fracture toughness is that a small variation in one of the material's<br />

properties, such as yield stress, can cause the fracture mechanism to change<br />

(ductile to brittle transition) leading to very large variations in Klc<br />

values. If that property is indirectly measured by a method such as<br />

ultrasonic attenuation which is mostly sensitive to other properties of the<br />

material, the chances of obtaining an accurate K\c value are reduced even<br />

more.<br />

Nondestructive evaluation of Kic can be achieved when the method directly<br />

measures the material properties controlling its fracture toughness, for<br />

example ultrasonic attenuation for samples where variations in the grain size<br />

changes their toughness (**). Similarily, a method allowing for the direct<br />

measurement of ultrasonic absorption may provide better correlation with K^c<br />

variations caused by differences in the plastic properties of a material for a<br />

given microstructure. Such a method is currently under development (19) at<br />

the Industrial Materials Research Institute and it is hoped that it will prove<br />

to be a powerful tool for the nondestructive characterization of materials.<br />

Acknowledgement<br />

Supply of sample material for this study by R.R. Hosbons of the Metallurgical<br />

Engineering Branch at Chalk River Nuclear Laboratories is gratefully<br />

recognized.

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