Damage tolerance of nuclear graphite at elevated temperatures.

ABSTRACT: Nuclear-grade graphite is a critically important high-temperature structural material for current and potentially next generation of fission reactors worldwide. It is imperative to understand its damage-tolerant behaviour and to discern the mechanisms of damage evolution under in-service conditions. Here we perform in situ mechanical testing with synchrotron X-ray computed micro-tomography at temperatures between ambient and 1,000 °C on a nuclear-grade Gilsocarbon graphite. We find that both the strength and fracture toughness of this graphite are improved at elevated temperature. Whereas this behaviour is consistent with observations of the closure of microcracks formed parallel to the covalent-sp²-bonded graphene layers at higher temperatures, which accommodate the more than t

SUBMITTER: Liu D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5497056 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature