Irradiation degrades the fracture toughness of reactor pressure vessel steels. To date no satisfactory method has been developed to nondestructively measure the loss of fracture toughness. Metal embrittlement is often associated with impurity pinning of dislocations. A review is presented of the interaction of dislocations with ultrasonic waves to give rise to attenuation or internal friction. The emphasis is on amplitude dependent attenuation due to dislocation breakaway from pinning points. Recommendations for future work are provided.
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