Applicability of small specimen test results

The standardisation work carried out in the ASTM and ESIS committees consists of both the small specimen testing and the data analyses procedures based on the Master Curve technique. This collaboration together with own research and development work have ensured effective transfer of know how on small specimen test techniques and their development into standardised procedures. The standardisation work has been successfully supplemented by the IAEA Co-ordinated Research Projects and the AMES Thematic Network on Ageing (ATHENA) where guidelines and recommendations have been prepared on application and limits of the Master Curve approach in reactor pressure vessel integrity assessments. The most ambitious objective is to simulate numerically the microstructural phenomena occurring in reactor pressure vessel and reactor internal materials due to neutron irradiation and how such defects affect materials mechanical and corrosion properties. The derived correlation between materials yield strength and the fracture toughness reference temperature (T0) is one result achieved in the PERFECT project where these fracture models are developed.