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System and safety studies of accelerator driven transmutation ... - SKB

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12 2. Radiation Damage in Metals<br />

Figure 2.4: The figure shows stress-strain curves for ductile <strong>and</strong> brittle materials.<br />

The ductile material will deform plastically until it breaks while the<br />

brittle material shows almost no deformation before breaking [11].<br />

materials with a ductile-to-brittle transition, the temperature at which this<br />

transition takes place can shift due to irradiation. These effects have complex<br />

dependencies on dose rates, material microstructure <strong>and</strong> temperature.<br />

Embrittlement is a <strong>safety</strong> issue as ductile deformation tends to occur over<br />

a longer time giving a slower fracture with a larger chance <strong>of</strong> discovery (see<br />

figure 2.4).<br />

At temperatures below the ductile-to brittle transition temperature,<br />

(DBTT), the yield stress <strong>of</strong> a material is larger than the fracture stress.<br />

In this region the fracture will be brittle which means that the material<br />

will break with very little plastic deformation. The yield stress is more<br />

temperature dependent than the fracture stress. As the temperature is<br />

increased, the yield stress will become smaller than the fracture stress <strong>and</strong><br />

the fracture mode <strong>of</strong> the material will become ductile <strong>and</strong> undergo plastic<br />

deformation before fracturing.<br />

For dislocations to move in a material, they need a certain energy to<br />

overcome barriers <strong>and</strong> obstacles. By raising the temperature in the material,<br />

the dislocations are given more energy enabling them to pass obstacles in<br />

their way. However, irradiating a material introduces more obstacles <strong>and</strong>

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