Degradation of mechanical properties of structural reactor materials induced by formation of stress concentrators

The paper deals with the crack nucleation and stability in strain fields of stress concentrators (e.g. voids, gas bubbles, secondary phase precipitates). A general equation describes critical and subcritical crack length as a function of external (applied loading) and internal (stress concentrator type, normal traction, elastic properties of matrix, etc.) parameters. For the critical crack an analog of the Griffith criterion is found. The reduction of fracture stress due to different types of internal stress concentrators was evaluated.