Ageing Material Evaluation and Studies by Nondestructive Technqiues (AMES-NDT) - A European Network Project

The paper presents results obtained in a round robin action organized in a concerted action of 10 partners in the EURATOM program of the European Community. The objective of the research was to document the state of the art of available non-destructive testing techniques in order to characterize material aging phenomena based on a reduction of Sharpy V energy and a shift in the fracture appearance transition temperature. Therefore samples from the Japanese nuclear reactor pressure vessel JRQ-steel (ASMT Standard A533-B Class 1) have been thermally treated at 700°C for 18 hours with a subsequent water quenching. Besides micro-magnetic and electromagnetic NDT the positron annihilation technique, ultrasonic reverberation by using Laser ultrasonics and the thermo-electrical power have been applied to characterize the aged material states.