SEDL / STP / STP1125-EB / STP17890S

Brittle Fracture of Material Due to Growing Pressurized Cracks

Borodin, VA
Senior scientist, junior scientist, and laboratory head, I. V. Kurchatov Atomic Energy Institute, Moscow,

Manichev, VM
Senior scientist, junior scientist, and laboratory head, I. V. Kurchatov Atomic Energy Institute, Moscow,

Ryazanov, AI
Senior scientist, junior scientist, and laboratory head, I. V. Kurchatov Atomic Energy Institute, Moscow,

Pages: 7    Published: Jan 1992

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Abstract

The redistribution of impurity atoms in a metal under irradiation can lead to significant embrittlement. We demonstrate that the accumulation of impurity (in particular, helium) atoms in a crack can result in steady monotonous growth of the crack for some time until the limiting crack size is achieved. After that the crack becomes unstable and destroys the material. The model investigated gives estimates of some experimentally measurable parameters (time to rupture, critical fracture load, and so on) in different loading regimes.