Weibull Modulus of Cleavage Fracture Toughness of Ferritic Steels

The ordinary Weibull distribution function has been commonly accepted for empirical characterization of cleavage fracture toughness of nuclear reactor and containment pressure vessel steels. However, this method lacks a fundamental basis. This work adopts the standardized Weibull distribution function to analyze cleavage fracture toughness of ferritic steels measured from different sized fracture mechanics specimens at different temperatures to estimate the Weibull modulus. The toughness data of five different nuclear reactor and containment vessel steels are analyzed. The estimations obtained the Weibull modulus (m) in the range of 1.83 to 2.55 and strong temperature dependence of the threshold cleavage fracture toughness K-min, as opposed to the constant values of m(K) = 4 and K-min = 20 MPam(1/2) given in ASTM E1921-19. The goodness of fit test by the one-sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov (K-S) test validated Weibull distribution function for describing the toughness distribution.

Automated summary

The study analyses cleavage fracture toughness of ferritic steels measured from different sized fracture mechanics specimens at different temperatures using the standardized Weibull distribution function. The Weibull modulus was estimated to range from 1.83 to 2.55, showing strong temperature dependence of the threshold cleavage fracture toughness K-min. The goodness of fit test validated the use of Weibull distribution function for describing toughness distribution.