Fracture mechanical measurements with commercial stainless steels at 4 K and with CP-titanium at 173 K

Abstract

Using the JETT (J-Evaluation on Tensile Test) technique, measurements have been performed with commercial stainless steels in forged and cast condition for the reason of an assessment for low temperature service down to 4 K. These steels frequently used for industrial applications are designated by German Werkstoff (WNr) 1.4308 and 1.4408 cast stainless steels and a forged material with the number 1.4307. The fracture toughness tests at 4 K with forged material 1.4307 comprised apart from the base metal also the weld zone and additionally the 5% and 8% pre-strained conditions of the base metal. Fracture toughness reduced slightly for cold worked condition gradually as well as for the weld joint. The Reliability of the JETT measurements has been also checked using the ASTM E 1820 - 99a standard. In addition, to these measurements, commercial pure ASTM grade 2 titanium (WNr 3.7035) has been also examined using the same JETT method for the reason of industrial application and the requirement of minimum fracture toughness of 100 MPa√m was fulfilled at 173 K. Furthermore, test results performed at 7 K of pure titanium plate material (ASTM grade 1) with respect to fracture mechanical JETT method are presented. © 2010 American Institute of physics.