Deformation Characteristics of Miniature Tensile Specimens of a SA 508 C1.3 Reactor Pressure Vessel Steel

Deformation characteristics of miniature plate tensile specimens have been studied to develop the thickness requirement and a correlation to estimate the mechanical properties of bulk material from miniature specimen data. The material used was a SA 508 C1.3 reactor pressure vessel steel and the thicknesses of miniature tensile specimens varied from ().12 m to 2 mm. The effects of thickness on the tensile deformation properties such as strength, ductility, and necking characteristics were analyzed. The yield and ultimate tensile strengths were independent of specimen thickness when the thickness was larger than about 0.2 mm. The uniform and total elongations decreased as the specimen thickness decreased. It was also observed that the uniform strain component in the width direction decreased with decrease in the specimen thickness, however, that in the thickness direction was rather constant in total thickness range studied. Based on this observation and a relationship between the necking angle and the ratio between strain components, a correlation between the uniform elongations of miniature specimen and standard specimen was derived. The uniform elongations calculated by this new correlation agreed well with the measured values.