IMPORTANT PARAMETERS TO TAKE INTO ACCOUNT TO GET RELIABLE STRUCTURAL MATERIALS DATA FOR 60 YEAR DESIGN DURATION

摘要

With a 60-year design life, design and licensing of GENIV-reactor non-replaceable components is an essential issue. Material procurement and welded joints fabrication have to follow strict requirements. Then base metals and welds have to be justified under severe in-service solicitations. This paper uses the example of 316L type stainless steels to highlight the weight of metallurgical parameters in mechanical behavior. In a larger scope, issues are discussed about the application of accelerated test, the need for common experimental test procedures and the use of sub-size specimens and of non-standard tests. As final conclusion, it seems important that pre-normative data acquisition is supported by R&D studies to understand the underlying damage mechanisms. A physic-based material understanding will give robustness to the predictive capability of models and thus validate extrapolation to service conditions up to 60 years.