Vértesy, G.; Rabung, M.; Gasparics, A.; Uytdenhouwen, I.; Griffin, J.; Algernon, D.; Grönroos, S.; Rinta-Aho, J. Evaluation of the Embrittlement in Reactor Pressure-Vessel Steels Using a Hybrid Nondestructive Electromagnetic Testing and Evaluation Approach. Materials2024, 17, 1106.
Vértesy, G.; Rabung, M.; Gasparics, A.; Uytdenhouwen, I.; Griffin, J.; Algernon, D.; Grönroos, S.; Rinta-Aho, J. Evaluation of the Embrittlement in Reactor Pressure-Vessel Steels Using a Hybrid Nondestructive Electromagnetic Testing and Evaluation Approach. Materials 2024, 17, 1106.
Vértesy, G.; Rabung, M.; Gasparics, A.; Uytdenhouwen, I.; Griffin, J.; Algernon, D.; Grönroos, S.; Rinta-Aho, J. Evaluation of the Embrittlement in Reactor Pressure-Vessel Steels Using a Hybrid Nondestructive Electromagnetic Testing and Evaluation Approach. Materials2024, 17, 1106.
Vértesy, G.; Rabung, M.; Gasparics, A.; Uytdenhouwen, I.; Griffin, J.; Algernon, D.; Grönroos, S.; Rinta-Aho, J. Evaluation of the Embrittlement in Reactor Pressure-Vessel Steels Using a Hybrid Nondestructive Electromagnetic Testing and Evaluation Approach. Materials 2024, 17, 1106.
Abstract
Nondestructive determination of the neutron irradiation induced embrittlement of nuclear reactor pressure vessel steel is a very important and recent problem. In the frame of the so called NOMAD project, funded by the Euratom research and training program, novel nondestructive electromagnetic testing methods were applied for inspection of irradiated reactor pressure vessel steel. In this review the most important results of this project are summarized. Different methods were used and compared with each other. Measurement results were compared with the destructively determined ductile to brittle transition temperature (DBTT) values. Three magnetic methods: 3MA (micromagnetic, multiparameter, microstructure and stress analysis), MAT (magnetic adaptive testing) and Barkhausen noise technique (MBN) were found as the most promising techniques. The results of these methods were in good confidence with each other. Good correlation was found between the magnetic parameters and the DBTT values. The basic idea of the NOMAD project is to use a multi-method/multi-parameter approach and to focus on their synergies that allows to recognise the side effects therefore supressing them at the same time. Different types of Machine Learning (ML) algorithms were tested in competition and their performances were evaluated. The important outcome of the ML technique is that not only one, but several different ML techniques could reach required precision and reliability, i.e. to keep the DBTT prediction error lower than +/-25°C threshold, which was previously not possible for any of the NDE methods as single entities. A calibration/training procedure was carried out on the merged outcome of testing methods with excellent results to predict transition temperature, yield strength and mechanical hardness for all investigated materials. Our results, achieved within NOMAD project can be useful for the future potential introduction of this (and in general, any) nondestructive evolution method.
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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