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Microstructural Characterization of Alloy 52 Narrow-Gap Dissimilar Metal Weld After Aging

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Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Environmental Degradation of Materials in Nuclear Power Systems – Water Reactors

Part of the book series: The Minerals, Metals & Materials Series ((MMMS))

Abstract

The safe-end dissimilar metal weld (DMW) joining the reactor pressure vessel to the main coolant piping is one of the most critical DMWs in a nuclear power plant (NPP). DMWs have varying microstructures at a short distance across the ferritic-austenitic fusion boundary (FB) region. This microstructural variation affects the mechanical properties and fracture behavior and may evolve as a result of thermal aging during long-term operation of an NPP. This paper presents microstructural characterization performed for as-manufactured and 5000 h and 10,000 h thermally aged narrow-gap DMW representing a safe-end DMW of a modern pressurized water reactor (PWR) NPP. The most significant result of the study is that the thermal aging leads to a significant decrease in a hardness gradient observed across the ferritic-austenitic FB of the as-manufactured DMW.

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Acknowledgements

This study, carried out in parallel with that presented by Ahonen et al. on mechanical behavior, has been made in collaboration between Aalto University School of Engineering and VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd within the Nickel-base Alloy Welding Forum (NIWEL)-research project funded by TEKES, Finnish (Teollisuuden Voima Oyj and Fortum Oyj) and Swedish (Vattenfall AB and OKG AB) energy industry. The authors wish to express their gratitude for the funding and participation to the project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Aalto University School of Engineering, P.O. Box 14200, 00760, Aalto, Finland

    Teemu Sarikka, Roman Mouginot & Hannu Hänninen

  2. VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd, VTT, P.O. Box 1000, FI-02044, Espoo, Finland

    Matias Ahonen, Sebastian Lindqvist, Ulla Ehrnstén & Pekka Nevasmaa

Authors
  1. Teemu Sarikka
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  2. Roman Mouginot
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  3. Matias Ahonen
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  4. Sebastian Lindqvist
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  5. Ulla Ehrnstén
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  6. Pekka Nevasmaa
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  7. Hannu Hänninen
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Teemu Sarikka .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho Falls, ID, USA

    John H. Jackson

  2. Naval Nuclear Laboratory, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    Denise Paraventi

  3. Chalk River Laboratories, Canadian Nuclear Laboratories, Chalk River, ON, Canada

    Michael Wright

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© 2019 The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society

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Sarikka, T. et al. (2019). Microstructural Characterization of Alloy 52 Narrow-Gap Dissimilar Metal Weld After Aging. In: Jackson, J., Paraventi, D., Wright, M. (eds) Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Environmental Degradation of Materials in Nuclear Power Systems – Water Reactors. The Minerals, Metals & Materials Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04639-2_134

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