Non-destructive Determination of Tensile Properties and Fracture Toughness of Cold Worked A36 Steel
Murty, K.L., Mathew, M.D., Wang, Y., Shah, V.N., and Haggag, F.M., "Non-destructive Determination of Tensile Properties and Fracture Toughness of Cold Worked A36 Steel," International Journal of Pressure Vessels and Piping, Vol. 75, 1998, pp. 831–840.
This NC State University / Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR, India) study demonstrates that ABI® correctly tracks the strength increases and toughness decreases caused by cold working (4–12%) in A36 structural steel across temperatures from −150°C to +200°C.
Cold working is used as an analog for neutron irradiation damage in nuclear materials research because both processes increase dislocation density, raise yield and tensile strength, and decrease ductility and fracture toughness. By showing that ABI® accurately captures these property changes across a wide temperature range, this study strengthened ABI®'s case for nuclear surveillance applications — where the ability to nondestructively monitor radiation-induced embrittlement is of paramount importance.
The temperature range tested — from cryogenic to above typical reactor operating temperatures — spans the full range relevant to both nuclear reactor pressure vessel service and pipeline integrity assessment. The consistency of ABI® results across this range provided confidence that the technique could be applied in the field under varying ambient conditions.
This was NC State's first independent ABI® validation paper in a peer-reviewed journal, establishing the Murty research group as one of the primary independent validators of ABI® technology.