THE EFFECT OF INTERNAL-STRESS FIELDS ON FRACTURE OF STRUCTURAL-MATERIALS UNDER IRRADIATION

The paper deals with the effect of stress fields from internal sources (precipitates and network dislocations) on the mechanical property changes of materials. The crack stability conditions in irradiated materials are shown to be noticeably modified by the effect of internal stress sources. These modifications turn out to be sensitive to the initial crack sizes, stress source nature and the geometry of source distribution in the matrix. Variations of source types and distributions can lead to either strengthening, or weakening of materials, implying that predictions of mechanical behavior of irradiated materials may require knowledge of their particular defect microstructure.