Study of the Structural Mechanical Behaviour in Liquid Lead Environment for the ALFRED Generation IV Reactor

In the research area for the Generation IV nuclear reactors, an important task is to manage the structural integrity of the nuclear components under environmental conditions. In the literature, the main degradation mechanism of the mechanical properties by liquid metals is classified as liquid metal embrittlement (LME). LME is the loss of ductility of a normally ductile metal when stressed in touch with a liquid metal that may lead to brittle fracture. The paper describes the experimental test methodology and the theoretical approach concerning the Ramberg - Osgood constitutive equation that models the structural mechanical behaviour of 316L in the air and the liquid lead environment. Also, new approaches to obtain the strain-hardening exponent is explicitly presented. The work belongs to the integration effort of the methodology developed to obtain the material properties for the Generation IV innovative materials, most of them planned to be used in the ALFRED components.