Fracture behaviour of polycrystalline tungsten

Fracture behaviour of round blank polycrystalline tungsten was studied by means of three point bending Fracture-Mechanical (FM) tests at temperatures between RT and 1000 °C and under high vacuum. To study the influence of the anisotropic microstructure on the fracture toughness (FT) and ductile-to-brittle transition (DBT) the specimens were extracted in three different, i.e. longitudinal, radial and circumferential orientations. The FM tests yielded distinctive fracture behaviour for each specimen orientation. The crack propagation was predominantly intergranular for longitudinal orientation up to 600 °C, whereas transgranular cleavage was observed at low test temperatures for radial and circumferentially oriented specimens. At intermediate test temperatures the change of the fracture mode took place for radial and circumferential orientations. Above 800 °C all three specimen types showed large ductile deformation without noticeable crack advancement. For longitudinal specimens the influence of the loading rate on the FT and DBT was studied in the loading rate range between 0.06 and 18 MPa m1/2/s. Though an increase of the FT was observed for the lowest loading rate, no resolvable dependence of the DBT on the loading rate was found partly due to loss of FT validity. A Master Curve approach is proposed to describe FT vs. test temperature data on polycrystalline tungsten. Fracture safe design space was identified by analysis compiled FT data.