Archaeologic analogues: Microstructural changes by natural ageing in carbon steels

When discussing the container material for highly active radionuclear waste, carbon steel is one of the materials most frequently proposed by the international scientific community. Evidently, security with respect to the container behaviour into deep geological deposits is fundamental. Among other parameters, knowledge about material mechanical properties is essential when designing the container. Time ageing of carbon steel, apart from possible alterations of the chemical composition (e.g. corrosion) involves important microstructural changes, at the scale of centuries and millenniums. The latter may cause variations of the mechanical properties of carbon steel storage containers, with the corresponding risk of possible leakage. In order to properly estimate such risk and to adjust the corresponding mathematical models to reality, the microstructural changes observed in this study on archaeologic samples are evaluated, comparing ancient and modern steels of similar chemical composition and fabrication processes.