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 Community. The objective of the research was to document the state of the art of available non-destructive testing (NDT) techniques in order to characterize material aging phenomena based on a reduction of Charpy-V energy and a shift in the fracture appearance transition temperature. Therefore, samples from the Japanese nuclear reactor pressure vessel JRQ-steel (ASTM Standard A533-B Class 1) have been thermally treated at 700 degreesC for 18 h with a subsequent water quenching. Besides micromagnetic and electromagnetic NET, the positron annihilation technique, ultrasonic reverberation by using Laser ultrasonics and the thermo-electrical power have been applied to characterize the aged material states. (C) 2001 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.