Feasibility of Ultrasonic Inspection for Nuclear Grade Graphite

Graphite material has been recognized as a very competitive candidate for reflector, moderator, and structural material for very high temperature reactor (VHTR). Since VHTR is operated up to , small amount of impurity may accelerate the oxidation and degradation of carbon graphite, which results in increased porosity and lowered fracture toughness. In this study, ultrasonic wave propagation properties were investigated for both as-received and degradated material, and the feasibility of ultrasonic testing (UT) was estimated based on the result of ultrasonic property measurements. The ultrasonic properties of carbon graphite were half, more than 5 times, and 1/3 for velocity, attenuation, and signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio respectively. Degradation reduces the ultrasonic velocity slightly by 100 m/s, however the attenuation is about 2 times of as-receive state. The results of probability of detection (POD) estimation based on S/N ratio for side-drilled-hole (SDHs) of which depths were less than 100 mm were merely affected by oxidation and degradation. This result suggests that UT would be reliable method for nondestructive testing of carbon graphite material of which thickness is not over 100 mm. In accordance with the result produced by commercial automated ultrasonic testing (AUT) system, human error of ultrasonic testing is barely expected for the material of which thickness is not over 80 mm.