| EPSRC Reference: |
GR/M71305/01 |
| Title: |
TRIPARTITE INVESTIGATION OF INTERGRANULAR FRACTURE IN THE TRANSITION REGION OF STEELS:BIRMINGHAM (ERCOS) |
| Principal Investigator: |
Knott, Professor J |
| Other Investigators: |
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| Project Partners: |
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| Department: |
Metallurgy and Materials |
| Organisation: |
University of Birmingham |
| Scheme: |
Standard Research (Pre-FEC) |
| Starts: |
01 May 1999 |
Ends: |
30 April 2002 |
Value (£): |
166,473
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| EPSRC Research Topic Classifications: |
| Materials Characterisation |
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Summary on Grant Application Form |
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The overall research programme stems from Crocker and Smith's theoretical analysis, which suggests that a brittle fracture surface should exhibit some 15-25% intergranular fracture, if the fracture strengths of cleavage planes and grain-boundaries are identical. Past research carried out by the applicant indicates that steels exhibit a wide range of behaviour, but this specific question has never been addressed. (It is usually assumed that, if the fracture surface exhibits only a small, or near-zero, area fraction of intergranular fracture, that the grain-boundaries are much stronger then the cleavage planes). The critical relevance to BNFL/Magnox (and to others involved with nuclear, or chemical, reactors) is for the assessment of the significance of a small area fraction (but one which increases with service exposure) of intergranular fracture with respect to the material's fracture toughness and the structural integrity of their plant. The Birmingham work is planned to address the applicability of the modelling at the precise point at which boundaries and cleavage planes have (globally) equal strength and to explore the variability in behaviour between nominally identical specimens in terms of local grain-boundary misorientation, impurity coverage and meso-scale segregation of impurity elements.
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Key Findings |
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This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
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Potential use in non-academic contexts |
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This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
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Impacts |
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| Description |
This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk |
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| Date Materialised |
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Sectors submitted by the Researcher |
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This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
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| Project URL: |
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| Further Information: |
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| Organisation Website: |
http://www.bham.ac.uk |