Aging material evaluation and studies by non-destructive techniques (AMES-NDT) - a European network project

This paper presents results obtained in a round-robin action organized in a concerted action of ten partners in the EURATOM program of the European Co mmunity. The objective of the research was to document the state of the art of available non-destructive testing (NDT) techniques in order to characte rize material aging phenomena based on a reduction of Charpy-V energy and a shift in the fracture appearance transition temperature. Therefore, sample s from the Japanese nuclear reactor pressure vessel JRQ-steel (ASTM Standar d A533-B Class 1) have been thermally treated at 700 degreesC for 18 h with a subsequent water quenching. Besides micromagnetic and electromagnetic NE T, the positron annihilation technique, ultrasonic reverberation by using L aser ultrasonics and the thermo-electrical power have been applied to chara cterize the aged material states. (C) 2001 Published by Elsevier Science B. V.