Fracture toughness of China low activation martensitic (CLAM) steel at room temperature

Abstract The fracture toughness ( J IC ) of China low activation martensitic (CLAM) steel was tested at room temperature through the compact tension specimen, the result is 417.9 kJ/m 2 , which is similar to the JLF-1 at same experimental conditions. The microstructural observation of the fracture surface shows that the fracture mode is a typical ductile fracture. Meanwhile, the fracture toughness is also calculated on the basis of the fractal dimension and the calculated result is 454.6 kJ/m 2 , which is consistent well with the experimental result. This method could be used to estimate the fracture toughness of materials by analyzing of the fracture surface.