Plastic factor of front face compact tension specimens

Abstract To estimate fracture toughness of irradiated material in nuclear engineering, the testing specimens with half thickness of a standard compact tension specimen are used to get the J resistance curve of materials according to Standard Test Method for Measured of Fracture Toughness (ASTM E1820). The normalization method recommended by ASTM E1820 is not directly applied in obtaining the fracture toughness of metallic materials because it does not provide the plastic factor of Front Face Compact Tension specimen with 12.5mm thickness and 25mm width (1/2 FFCT specimen). Based on the energy of J integral and the detailed finite element analysis, the plastic factor of a 1/2 FFCT specimen is presented. With the plastic factor of 1/2 FFCT, the J resistance curve of a 1/2 FFCT specimen and its fracture toughness can be obtained by Using the normalization method