• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2001.06a
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• pp.511-516
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• 2001

Recently small punch creep testing (or miniature disc bend creep test) has received much attention through European collaborative research projects. This method was considered as a substitute for the conventional creep rupture testing by which the residual creep life is measured from the specimen taken out from serviced components of high temperature plants. It would be beneficial if the material creep properties such as power law creep constants as well as the creep rupture life can be measured from the small punch creep test. In this paper a method of assessing creep constants from the small punch creep testing is proposed. Finite element analyses were performed to investigate evolution of stress and strain rate at the weakest locations of the small punch creep specimen. Elastic-plastic-secondary creep analyses were carried out. The estimation equations for creep constants by the small punch creep testing are proposed based on the finite analysis results. Small punch creep tests were also performed with 9Cr steel and the accuracy of the proposed equation was verified by the experimental results.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.25 no.9
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• pp.1493-1500
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• 2001

Recently small punch creep testing (or miniature disc bend creep test) has received much attention through European collaborative research projects. This method was considered as a substitute for the conventional creep rupture testing by which the residual creep life is measured from the specimen taken out from serviced components of high temperature plants. It would be beneficial if the material creep properties such as power law creep constants as well as the creep rupture life can be measured from the small punch creep test. In this paper a method of assessing creep constants from the small punch creep testing is proposed. Finite element analyses were performed to investigate evolution of stress and strain rate at the weakest locations of the small punch creep specimen. Elastic-plastic-secondary creep analyses were carried out. The estimation equations for creep constants by the small punch creep testing are proposed based on the finite analysis results. Small punch creep tests were also performed with 9Cr steel and the accuracy of the proposed equation was verified by the experimental results.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2000.11a
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• pp.193-198
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• 2000

The small punch test have been developed to evaluate the material strength of the power plant components. This small punch test specimen is very small than the conventional strength test specimens. Korea Electric Power Research Institute (KEPRI) have been applying this test to assess accurately the life of thermal power plant and enhancing the reliability. The small punch test for gas turbine blades is under development. It's possible to compare the relative strength among the same materials having different operation histories. In this paper, the strength reductions of gas turbine materials are investigated by the small punch tests. All materials shows the almost same strength and deformation with the allowable deviation. At the same test temperature, the damaged material has the maximum load value. The strength reduction is not shown in this small punch test results.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers
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• v.17 no.8
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• pp.2033-2042
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• 1993

In conventional SCC susceptibility test, there are constant strain test, constant load test, slow strain rate test(SSRT) and K$_{ISCC}$ test. Among them, the SSRT method is much more aggressive in producing SCC than the other tests, so that the test time of it is considerably reduced. But this SSRT method has mostly been worked using the uniaxial tensile specimen untill now. Therefore, the SSRT method using the tensile specimen(Ten-SSRT) has much difficulty in SCC susceptibility evaluation of a localized region like weldment and the advantage material of high order. Recentely, the small punch(SP) test method using miniaturized small specimen is the very effective test method for fracture strength evaluation of a localized region like weldment and fusion reactor wall irradiated in the nuclear power plant. This paper investigated the possibility of SCC susceptibility evaluation by the SP-SSRT method using the miniaturized small specimen. Therefore, we obtained the result that the SP-SSRT had the possibility for the evaluations of SCC susceptibility for shorter time to corrosive environment compare to Ten-SSRT which was conventional method.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.31 no.1 s.256
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• pp.70-76
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• 2007

Elastic-plastic fracture mechanics is popularly used for integrity evaluation of major components, however, it is not easy to extract standard specimens from operating facility. This paper examines how ductile fracture toughness is characterized by a small punch testing technique in conjunction with finite element analyses incorporating a damage model. At first, micro-mechanical parameters constituting Rousselier model are calibrated for typical nuclear materials using both estimated and experimental load-displacement (P-$\delta$) curves of miniaturized specimens. Then, fracture resistance (J-R) curves of relatively larger standard CT specimens are predicted by finite element analyses employing the calibrated parameters and compared with corresponding experimental ones. It was proven that estimated results by the proposed method using small punch specimen is promising and might be used as a useful tool for ductile crack growth evaluation.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.574-585
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• 2002

The microstructural characteristics and its related mechanical properties of RPV cladding have been investigated using small punch (SP) tests. SA508 Cl.3 RPV steel plates were overlay cladded with the type ER309L welding consumables by submerged arc welding process. Although the RPV clad material had a small portion of 5 ferrite phase, it still showed the ductile to brittle transition behavior The transition temperature was determined by the SP test and it depended on the content of $\sigma$ phase, specimen size, and determination methods. The fracture appearance of SP specimen was changed from circumferential to radial cracking as test temperature became low, and below the transition temperature region, ER309L cladding usually fractured along the 6 ferrite by the low temperature failure of ferrite phase.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.29-34
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• 2012

The hydrogen embrittlement of high strength steel for automobiles was evaluated by small punch (SP) test. The test specimens were fabricated to be 5 series, having various chemical compositions according to the processes of heat treatment and working. Hydrogen charging was electrochemically conducted for each specimen with varying of current density and charging time. It was shown that the SP energy and the maximum load decreased with increasing hydrogen charging time in every specimen. SEM investigation results for the hydrogen containing samples showed that the fracture behavior was a mixed fracture mode having 50% dimples and 50% cleavages. However, the fracture mode of specimens with charging hydrogen changed gradually to the brittle fracture mode, compared to the mode of other materials. All sizes and numbers of dimples decreased with increasing hydrogen charging time. These results indicate that hydrogen embrittlement is the major cause of fracture for high strength steels for automobiles; also, it is shown that the small punch test is a valuable test method for hydrogen embrittlement of high strength sheet steels for automobiles.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.63-75
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• 1994

The conventional SCC(stress corrosion cracking) test methods have much difficulty in evaluating the SCC behaviors of the localized zone like HAZ, bond line and weld metal because of the specimen size. Accordingly, the purpose of this paper is to develop the new SCC test method of the welded zone by evaluating the SCC susceptibility on parent metal and various microstructures of the welded zone by SP(small punch) test method using miniaturized small specimen and SSRT(slow strain rate test) method(SP-SSRT). Besides, this study is to verify the efficiency of the SP-SSRT results through AE(acoustic emission) test which is a useful technique to monitor the microfracture processes of the material. From the results of SCC susceptibility, SEM observation and AE test, it can be concluded that the SP-SSRT test using miniaturized small specimen(10mm*10mm*0.5mm) will be a good test method to evaluate the SCC susceptibility on the local zone such as the welded zone.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2000.11a
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• pp.105-110
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• 2000

The Micromechanics test is new test method which uses comparatively smaller specimen than that required in conventional material tests. There are several methods, such as small-specimen creep test, the continuous indentation test, and small punch(SP) test. Among them, the small punch(SP) test method has been applied to many evaluation fields, such as a ductile-brittle transition temperature, stress corrosion cracking, hydrogen embrittlement, and fracture properties of advanced materials like FGM or MMC. In this study, the small punch(SP) test is performed to evaluate the mechanical properties at high/low temperature from $-196^{\circ}C$ to $650^{\circ}C$ and the material degradation for virgin and aged materials of 9Cr1MoVNb steel which has been recently developed. The ${\Delta}P/{\Delta}{\delta}$ parameter defined a slope in plastic membrane stretching region of SP load-displacement curve decreases according to the increase of specimen temperature, and that of aged materials is higher than the virgin material in all test temperatures. And the material degradation degrees of aged materials with $630^{\circ}C$ -500hrs and $630^{\circ}C$ -1000hrs are $36^{\circ}C$ and $38^{\circ}C$ respectively. These behaviors are good consistent with the results of hardness($H_v$) and maximum displacement(${\delta}_{max}$).

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.49 no.7
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• pp.515-521
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• 2011

Small punch creep testing has received attention due to the convenience of using smaller specimens than those of conventional uniaxial creep tests, which enables creep testing on developing or currently operational components. However, precedent studies have shown that it is necessary to consider friction between the punch and specimen when computing uniaxial equivalent stress from a finite element model. In this study, small punch creep behaviors of AISI 316L stainless steel, which is widely used in high temperature-high pressure machineries, have been compared for the two different ceramic balls such as $Si_3N_4$ and $Al_2O_3$. The optimal range of the friction coefficient is 0.4~0.5 at $650^{\circ}C$ for the best fit between experimental and simulation data of AISI 316 L stainless steel. The higher the friction coefficient, the longer the creep rupture time is. Therefore, the type of ceramic ball used must be specified for standardization of small punch creep testing.