In a component design at elevated temperature, creep-fatigue is one of the most important failure modes, and assessment of creep-fatigue life in structural discontinuity is important issue to evaluate structural integrity of the components. Therefore a lot of creep-fatigue life evaluation methods were proposed until now. To compare and assess these evaluation methods, a series of creep-fatigue tests was carried out with notched specimens. All the specimens were made of Mod.9Cr-1Mo steel, which it is a candidate material for a primary and secondary heat transport system components of JSFR (Japan Sodium-cooled Fast Reactor). Mechanical creep-fatigue tests and thermal creep-fatigue tests were performed by using conventional uni-axial push-pull fatigue test machine and thermal gradient generating system with an induction heating coil. Stress concentration levels were adjusted by varying the diameters of notch roots in the both tests. In the test, creep-fatigue lives, crack initiation and propagation processes were observed by digital micro-scope and replica method. Besides those, a series of elastic Finite Element Analysis (FEA) were carried out to predict the number of cycles to failure by several creep-fatigue life evaluation methods. Then these predictions were compared with test results. Several types of evaluation methods which are stress redistribution locus (SRL) method, simple elastic follow-up method and the methods described in JSME FR (Fast Reactor) code were applied. The applicability and conservativeness of these methods were discussed. It was appeared that SRL method gave rational prediction of creep-fatigue life with conservativeness when the factor of κ = 1.6 was applied for all the conditions tested in this study. Comparison of SRL method and simple elastic follow-up method indicated that SRL method applied factor of κ = 1.6 gave the smallest creep-fatigue life in practicable stress level. JSME FR code gave an evaluation 70∼100 times conservative lives comparing with the test results.

Several methods of estimating strain range at a structural discontinuity have been developed in order to assess component reliability. In a component design at elevated temperature, estimation of strain range is required to evaluate the fatigue and creep-fatigue damage. Therefore, estimation of strain range is one of the most important issues when evaluating the integrity of a component during its lifetimes. To verify the methods of estimating strain range for discontinuous structures, low cycle fatigue tests were carried out with notched specimens. All the specimens were made of Mod.9Cr-1Mo steel, because it is a candidate material for a primary and secondary heat transport system components of Japan Sodium-cooled Fast Reactor (JSFR). Displacement control fatigue tests and thermal fatigue tests were performed by ordinary uniaxial push–pull test machine and equipment generating the thermal gradient in the notched plate by induction heating. Several notch radii were employed to vary the stress concentration level in both kinds of tests. Crack initiation and propagation process during the tests were observed by a digital microscope and the replica method to define the failure cycles. Elastic and inelastic finite element analyses were also performed to estimate strain range for predicting fatigue life. Then, these predictions were compared with the test results. Several methods such as stress redistribution locus (SRL) method, simple elastic follow-up (SEF) method, Neuber's law, and the procedures employed by elevated temperature design codes were applied. Through these comparisons, the applicability and conservativeness of these strain range estimation methods, which is the basis of the fatigue and creep-fatigue life prediction, are discussed.

In components design at elevated temperature, creep-fatigue is one of the most important failure modes, and assessment of creep-fatigue life in structural discontinuities is an important issue in evaluating the integrity of components. Therefore, a lot of creep-fatigue life evaluation methods were proposed until now. To compare and assess the evaluation methods, a series of creep-fatigue test was carried out with notched specimens. All the specimens were made of Mod.9Cr-1Mo steel, which is a candidate material for primary and secondary heat transport system components of the Japan sodium-cooled fast reactor (JSFR). Mechanical creep-fatigue tests and thermal creep-fatigue test were performed by using a conventional uni-axial push–pull fatigue test machine and a thermal gradient generating system with an induction heating. The stress concentration levels were adjusted by varying the notch radius in the each test. The creep-fatigue lives, crack initiation, and propagation processes were monitored by a digital microscope and the replica method. A series of finite element analysis (FEA) was carried out to predict the number of cycles to failure by the several creep-fatigue life evaluation methods. Then, these predictions were compared with the test results. Several types of evaluation methods such are stress redistribution locus (SRL) method, simple elastic follow-up method and the methods described in the design and constriction code for fast reactor (FR) published by the Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers (JSME FRs code) were applied. Through the comparisons, it was appeared that SRL method gave rational conservative prediction of the creep-fatigue life when the factor of κ = 1.6 was applied for all conditions tested in this study. A comparison of SRL method and simple elastic follow-up method indicated that SRL method applied factor of κ = 1.6 gave the smallest creep-fatigue life in practicable stress range level. The JSME FRs code gave an evaluation 70–100 times conservative lives comparing with the test results.

To achieve the aim of developing a new insulating substrate that can exhibit both high permittivity and high permeability, ferromagnetic iron nanoparticles were dispersed uniformly in epoxy resin. Measurements of the electrical conductivity, permittivity, and permeability indicate that the composite can be a good candidate for an insulating substrate with negligibly small eddy-current loss and sufficiently high permittivity. C⃝ 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 190(2): 17-23, 2015; Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com).

Several innovative prediction methods of strain range have been developed in order to apply to the Generation IV plants. In a component design at elevated temperature, ‘strain range’ is used to calculate the fatigue and creep-fatigue damage. Therefore, prediction of ‘strain range’ is one of the most important issues to evaluate the components’ integrity during these lifetimes. To verify the strain prediction method of discontinues structures at evaluated temperature, low cycle fatigue tests were carried out with notched specimens. All the specimens were made of Mod.9Cr-1Mo, because it is a candidate material for a primary and secondary heat transports system components of JSFR (Japanese Sodium Fast Reactor). Deformation control fatigue tests and thermal fatigue tests were performed by ordinary uni-axial push-pull test machine and equipment generating the thermal gradient in the notched plate by induction heating. Stress concentration level was changed by varying the notch radius in the both kind of tests. Crack initiation and propagation process during the fatigue test were observed by the digital micro-scope and replica method. Elastic and inelastic FEAs were also carried out to estimate the ‘strain range’ for the prediction of fatigue life. Then the ranges of several strain predictions and estimations were compared with the test results. These predictions were based on the sophisticated technique to estimate the ‘strain range’ from elastic FEA. Stress reduction locus (SRL) method, simple elastic follow-up method, Neuber’s rule method and the methods supplied by elevated temperature design standards were applied. Through these results, the applicability and conservativeness of these strain prediction and estimation methods, which is the basis of the creep-fatigue life prediction, is discussed.