Development of a small specimen test machine to evaluate irradiation embrittlement of fusion reactor materials

Small specimen test techniques (SSTT) are essential to use an accelerator-d riven deuterium-lithium stripping reaction neutron source for the study of fusion reactor materials because of the limitation of the available irradia tion volume. A remote-controlled small punch (SP) test machine was develope d at the hot laboratory of the Japan Materials Testing Reactor (JMTR) in th e Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute (JAERI). This report describes the SP test method and machine for use in a hot cell, and test results on irra diated ferritic steels. The specimen was either a coupon 10 x 10 x 0.25 mm( 3) or a TEM disk 3 mm in diameter by 0.25 mm in thickness. Tests can be per formed at temperatures ranging from 93 to 1123 K in a vacuum or in an inert gas environment. The ductile to brittle transition temperature of the irra diated ferritic steel as determined by the SP test is also evaluated. (C) 2 000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.