Non-destructive testing derived parameters for microstructure-based residual service life assessment of aging metallic materials in nuclear engineering

MSc Ruth Acosta, born in 1988, studied Civil Engineering at José Simeón Cañas Central American University (UCA), El Salvador and received a Master of Sciences in Non-Destructive Testing at Dresden International University, Germany. Since 2017, she has been working as a research associate at the Chair of Non-Destructive Testing and Quality Assurance at Saarland University and since 2018, she has also been working as a Research Associate at the University of Applied Sciences Kaiserslautern (Hochschule Kaiserslautern) in Germany. Her research is mainly focused on the use of non-destructive methods for the characterization and detection of defects in metallic materials.

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Christian Boller, born in 1954, graduated from the Technische Hochschule (now Technische Universität) Darmstadt/Germany in Structural Engineering (Civil Engineering) in 1980 and received a Doctoral degree from the same institution in Materials Mechanics in 1987. Thereafter, he worked at institutions like Battelle, Daimler and MBB (today Airbus) where he became Chief Engineer for Structures in the military aircraft division. In 2003 he was appointed a full professor in Smart Structural Design at the University of Sheffield/UK and assumed the chair for NDT and quality assurance at Saarland University in 2008, which he still maintains. He has published more than 300 scientific papers, reports and books and has been Scientific Director of the NDT master course at Dresden Internat. Univ. since 2013. Moreover, he has been a visiting professor at the Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (NUAA) in Nanjing/China since 2014 and a member of various editorial and scientific boards.

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Peter Starke, born in 1977, studied Mechanical Engineering at the TU Kaiserslautern, Germany. In 2002 he became a research assistant at the Institute of Materials Science and Engineering (WKK) at TU Kaiserslautern, Germany. He received his engineering doctoral degree in 2007 writing on “The fatigue life calculation of metallic materials under constant amplitude loading and service loading”. From 2007 to 2012 he headed the research group “Fatigue life calculation” at WKK. Afterwards, he changed to Fraunhofer IZFP in Saarbrücken, Germany. From 2013 to 2018 he was in the position of a Senior Research Associate at the Chair of Non-Destructive Testing and Quality Assurance at Saarland University in Saarbrücken, Germany. In 2018 he became a Professor in the field of Materials Science and Materials Testing at the University of Applied Sciences Kaiserslautern (Hochschule Kaiserslautern). His research is mainly focused on the use of non-destructive measurement techniques for the characterization of the fatigue behavior and the fatigue life calculation of metallic and non-metallic materials in the LCF-, HCF- and VHCF-regime as well as for the evaluation of defects and inhomogeneities in the material's microstructure.

MSc Michael Jamrozy, born in 1992, studied Mechanical Engineering with a focus on Materials Science at the TU Dortmund University, Germany where he received his Master degree in 2017. He worked as a Student Assistant in the Department of Materials Test Engineering (WPT) at the TU Dortmund University from 2014 to 2017 in the field of fiber-reinforced polymers. Since 2017 he has been working as a scientific assistant at the WPT with a research focus on the orientation-dependent material behavior of wood-based materials.

Dr.-Ing. Marina Knyazeva, born in 1979, studied Materials Science at Altai State Technical University, Russia. After her diploma thesis, she worked as Scientific Assistant at the Chair for Technology of Composite Materials at the same university and continued her career at the Chair of Materials Testing at the Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany. There she received her PhD in Mechanical Engineering in 2015. Currently she is a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Department of Materials Test Engineering at the TU Dortmund University, Germany. Her main research interests are the microscopic, mechanical and technological characterization of material behavior with the special focus on impact of environmental conditions.

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Frank Walther, born in 1970, studied Mechanical Engineering majoring in Materials Science and Engineering at TU Kaiserslautern University, Germany. There he finished his PhD on the fatigue assessment of railway wheel steels in 2002 and his habilitation on physical measurement techniques for microstructural-based fatigue assessment and lifetime calculation of metals in 2007. At Schaeffler AG in Herzogenaurach, Germany, he took responsibility for Public Private Partnership within Corporate Development from 2008 to 2010. Since 2010 he has been Professor for Materials Test Engineering (WPT) at the TU Dortmund University, Germany. His research portfolio includes determination of process-structure-property-damage relationships of metal- and polymer-based materials and components under fatigue loading from LCF to VHCF range, taking the influence of manufacturing and joining processes as well as service loading and corrosion deterioration into account.

Dr. rer. nat. Klaus Heckmann, born in 1982, studied Physics at TU Darmstadt and INP Grenoble, and obtained his PhD in Darmstadt with a thesis on transport properties of hot and dense matter. Since 2012, he has been working at GRS in Cologne, Germany, as a Technical Expert for structural mechanics. His field of research comprises the safety assessment of metallic components, the description of aging processes and computational simulation, especially for piping components. He is currently responsible for the development project of GRS’ structure simulation software PROST.

Dr. rer. nat. habil. Jürgen Sievers, born in 1955, studied Physics at the University of Cologne and received his PhD in 1983. He attained postdoctoral lecture qualifications at the University of Stuttgart in 2002. Since 1982 he has been working at GRS and contributes to research projects on the deterministic integrity assessment of metallic components and concrete structures under loads due to design basis accidents up to severe accidents, fracture assessment of cracks, leak-before-break analysis including leak rate calculation and structure mechanical issues in probabilistic safety analysis. He is Chief Expert in the field of computational structure mechanics and Project Manager of nuclear research projects on analysis methods for integrity assessment of components and structures. He is author/coauthor of more than 200 technical papers and reports in the area of structural mechanics, fracture mechanics, integrity of metallic and concrete components as well as interdisciplinary aspects. As a member of the Project Committee on “Component Integrity” he has been supporting the Project Management Agency of the Reactor Safety Research Program financed by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (BMWi) concerning evaluation of research projects since 2006. He was co-ordinator of the international research projects FALSIRE, RPV PTS ICAS and COSSAL sponsored by OECD/NEA. Since 2012 he has been Chairman of the CSNI Working Group on Integrity and Aging of Components and Structures (WGIAGE).

MSc Tim Schopf, born in 1989, studied Mechanical Engineering at Stuttgart University, majoring in Materials Testing and Strength of Materials. Since 2017, he has been working as a Research Associate at the Materials Testing Institute, University of Stuttgart, Germany. His research is mainly focused on the fatigue behavior of austenitic steels and relevant filler metals under boiling water reactor medium conditions. He also works on numerical methods and analysis to assess fatigue behavior in the high cycle fatigue and very high cycle fatigue regime.

Prof. Dr. Stefan Weihe is Director of the Materials Testing Institute (MPA) as well as being Head and Full Professor at the Institute of Materials Testing, Materials Science and Strength of Materials (IMWF), University of Stuttgart, Germany, since 08/2014. He received his doctorate in Aerospace Engineering at the Institute for Statics and Dynamics of Aerospace Structures, University of Stuttgart in 1998 and before working as a Senior Expert for Chassis Strength, Friction and Wear for Audi AG, Ingolstadt, Germany. From 2002 to 2014 he was a Senior Manager in the field of Strength and Fatigue, Body in White, and Body Concepts and Advanced Engineering in the Development & Research Department, Division Mercedes-Benz Vans, Daimler AG, Stuttgart, Germany.