Advances in Material Property Characterization Using Small Punch Tests

The small punch test (SPT) is useful to calculate changes in the tensile and fracture properties of structural materials during the service life of the materials of plant components. This book compiles advances in the development of correlations to calculate mechanical properties of the materials using SPT data. New correlations have been developed using hybrid methodology involving analytical and experimental data. The newly developed correlations have been tested conducting case studies on SPT and pre- cracked/ notched SPT (p- SPT) specimens. The eventual applications of all the new correlations have been demonstrated by conducting a real- life case study involving degradation of structural material from ductile to semi- brittle state due to aging.

Features:

- Presents exclusive material on the remnant life assessment of in- service materials using SPTs.

- Assesses the fracture toughness of ductile materials using the experimentally measured biaxial fracture strain.

- Provides new equations to calculate the yield and ultimate stresses of copper and titanium alloys using measured SPT data.

- Explores functions to correlate the load- displacement data of p- SPT specimens with fracture properties.

- Includes case studies with direct relevance to the degradation of plant materials.

This book is aimed at researchers, professionals, and graduate students in materials science and engineering, mechanical property characterization and testing, and small- scale experimentation. It is expected that the advanced methodology presented in this book to evaluate changes in the properties of aged materials during the service life using SPT data are useful to designers for safety evaluation and also to calculate the remaining service life of industrial components for life extension studies.

B.K. Dutta, BE (presently NIT Raipur), MTech (IIT Kanpur), PhD (IIT Bombay), served Department of Atomic Energy during the period Aug 1977- Dec 2018. Subsequently, he was associated with departmental programs as Raja Ramanna Fellow and Academic consultant. As Distinguished Scientist, Head HRDD (BARC) and Dean (HBNI), he served the department as a researcher, an academician, and an engineering practitioner. The primary thrust of Dr. Dutta’s research is linked to structural safety of Indian nuclear reactors. As an academician, he successfully supervised twelve PhD students and fifteen MTech. students in addition to providing day-to-day guidance to his departmental colleagues. He has been associated with the Homi Bhabha National Institute (HBNI) right from its inception and served the institute in various capacities including Dean. As an engineering practitioner, he participated in addressing a number of technical issues related to the nuclear and other conventional facilities, which helped the management in decision making.

Dr Dutta has published 300+ research papers, including 120+ peer-reviewed international journal articles and a book chapter. He was also served as guest editor of number of special issues of different journals. He was former president and presently lifetime Advisory Board member of International Association for Structural Mechanics in Reactor Technology (USA) and a member of different professional societies. He is a Recipient of Technical Excellence Award DAE, Homi Bhabha Award for Science and Technology DAE, and Distinguished Faculty Award HBNI. He Served as chairman/ member of selection boards of DAE, IITs and DRDO for many decades. He was elected as Fellow, Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE) in the year 2004.