Application of the Seebeck effect for monitoring of neutron embrittlement and low-cycle fatigue in nuclear reactor steel

Monitoring the embrittlement of reactor pressure vessel steels by using the Seebeck coefficient

“…Indeed, much smaller scatter and a very good reproducibility of K was obtained for Incoloy 800. We therefore conclude that the reason for one part of the scatter lies in the inhomogeneity of the material combined with the applied measuring method in which the measured properties stem from a very small volume near the heat source/sink [9] which is needed to apply the temperature gradient on the specimen's surface. To avoid such problems, i.e., to improve the quality of the TEP measurements, we propose to modify the measuring technique in order to achieve a larger gauge volume that allows averaging of the inhomogeneity so that the measured values reflect bulk properties which are more representative for the material state.…”

“…Some investigations of the TEP-method were performed within the framework of the European network Ageing Materials Evaluation and Studies (AMES) by Electricité de France (EDF) [7] and Joint Research Centre (JRC) in Petten [8]. At the Paul Scherrer Institut (PSI) the application of the TEP-method for material diagnostic is under investigation since 2001 [9]. At PSI measurements were performed on both, irradiated and fatigued specimens by using a TEP-device developed by the Institut National des Sciences Appliquées de Lyon (INSA).…”

Roadmap for Nondestructive Evaluation of Reactor Pressure Vessel Research and Development by the Light Water Reactor Sustainability Program

“…As a result, the approach has been applied to the characterization of a number of aging and degradation processes in metals. One potential application is the characterization of irradiation embrittlement [88][89][90][91][92], where numerous studies have described the potential for correlating embrittlement and DBTT shifts due to irradiation.…”

Improved thermoelectric power measurements using a four-point technique

“…The Seebeck coefficient of a material, also known as the thermoelectric power (TEP) [2], is dependent on its composition and microstructure [3]. Consequently, a range of studies have established TEP measurements are sensitive to thermal and irradiation embrittlement [4][5][6][7][8], hydrogen and nitrogen embrittlement [9][10][11], martensite content [12][13][14], and fatigue damage [15]. The use of the technique for material characterisation therefore appears promising.…”