Comparative study on Charpy specimen reconstitution techniques

B. Bourdiliau (1) , Guy Marc Decroix (1) , Xavier Averty (1) , P. Wident (2) , Yves Bienvenu (3)

1 SEMI - Service d'Etudes des Matériaux Irradiés
2 SRMA - Service des Recherches Métallurgiques Appliquées
3 CDM - Centre des Matériaux

Reconstitution techniques are often used to allow material from previously fractured Charpy-V specimens to be reused for additional experiments. This paper presents a comparative experimental study of various reconstitution techniques and evaluates the feasibility of these methods for future use in shielded cells. The following techniques were investigated: arc stud welding, 6.0 kW CO2 continuous wave laser welding, 4.5 kW YAG continuous wave laser welding and friction welding. Subsize Charpy specimens were reconstituted using a 400 W YAG pulsed wave laser. The best result was obtained with arc stud welding; the resilience of the reconstituted specimens and the load-displacement curves agreed well with the reference specimens, and the temperature elevation caused by the welding process was limited to the vicinity of the weld. Good results were also obtained with friction welding; this process led to the best quality welds. Laser welding seems to have affected the central part of the specimens, thus leading to different resilience values and load-displacement curves.

Domaines: Matériaux

B. Bourdiliau, Guy Marc Decroix, Xavier Averty, P. Wident, Yves Bienvenu. Comparative study on Charpy specimen reconstitution techniques. Nuclear Engineering and Design, 2011, 241, pp.2722-2731. ⟨10.1016/j.nucengdes.2011.06.012⟩. ⟨hal-00652943⟩