Abstract
Although service experience of austenitic stainless steels exposed to PWR primary coolant has been good, stress corrosion crack propagation has been observed in laboratory tests in the presence of ≥15% cold work. Data on crack initiation are much more limited and this study therefore aims to improve the understanding of the conditions under which crack initiation and subsequent development of stress corrosion cracking might be possible. Testing was performed on two heats of Type 304/304L stainless steel under slow strain rate tensile loading. A range of analytical techniques were used to characterize the resultant precursor features and cracking, and digital image correlation before and after testing was also used to evaluate the influence of localized deformation on SCC. The results indicate that crack initiation can occur in austenitic stainless steels exposed to good quality primary coolant under dynamic straining conditions; additional testing underway under more plant-representative conditions will be reported later. Significant influences of steel microstructure on crack initiation susceptibility were observed.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
- 1.
Note that the material referred to as heat A in this paper is designated heat H in Ref. [7].
References
W. Bamford, in Cracking of Alloy 600 Nozzles and Welds in PWRs: A Review of Cracking Events and Repair Service Experience. Proceedings 12th International Conference on Environmental Degradation of Materials in Nuclear Power Systems—Water Reactors, Snowbird, Utah, Aug 2005
G. Ilevbare, F. Cattant, N. Peat, in SCC of Stainless Steels Under PWR Service Circuit Conditions. International PWR Materials Reliability Conference and Exhibition, Colorado Springs, CO, 27 June–2 July 2010
R. Hosler, S. Fyfitch, H. Malikowski, G. Ilevbare, in Review of Stress Corrosion Cracking of Pressure Boundary Stainless Steel in PWRs and the Need for Long-Term Industry Guidance. Proceedings 16th International Conference on Environmental Degradation of Materials in Nuclear Power Systems—Water Reactors, Asheville, NC, Aug 2013
J.-M Boursier et al., in Stress Corrosion Cracking of Austenitic Stainless Steel in PWR Primary Water: An Update of Metallurgical Investigations Performed on French Withdrawn Components. International Symposium Fontevraud V., 2002
Materials Reliability Program: Assessment of the Current Status and Completeness of Work on Inner and Outer Diameter Stress Corrosion Cracking of Austenitic Stainless Steels in PWR plants (MRP-352), EPRI 3002000135, Mar 2013
D.R. Tice, J.W. Stairmand, H.J. Fairbrother, A. Stock, in Crack Growth Testing of Cold Worked Stainless Steel in a Simulated PWR Primary Water Environment to Assess Susceptibility to Stress Corrosion Cracking. Proceedings 13th International Conference on Environmental Degradation of Materials in Nuclear Power Systems-Water Reactors, Whistler, British Columbia, Canada, Aug 2007
S. Nouraei, D.R. Tice, K.J. Mottershead, D.M. Wright, in Effects of Thermo-Mechanical Treatments on Deformation Behaviour and IGSCC SUSCEPTIBILITY of Stainless Steel in PWR, Primary Water Chemistry. Proceedings 15th International Conference on Environmental Degradation of Materials in Nuclear Power Systems—Water Reactors, Colorado Springs, Aug 2011
K. Arioka, T. Yamada, T. Terachi, G. Chiba, Cold work and temperature dependence of stress corrosion crack growth of austenitic stainless steels in hydrogenated and oxygenated high-temperature water. Corrosion 63, 1114–1123 (2007)
L. Tribouilloy et al., in Stress Corrosion Cracking on Cold-Worked Austenitic Stainless Steels in PWR Environment. Proceedings 13th International Conference on Environmental Degradation of Materials in Nuclear Power Systems-Water Reactors, Whistler, British Columbia, Canada, Aug 2007
T. Couvant et al., in Investigations on the Mechanisms of PWSCC of Strain Hardened Austenitic Stainless Steels. Proceedings 13th International Conference on Environmental Degradation of Materials in Nuclear Power Systems-Water Reactors, Whistler, British Columbia, Canada, Aug 2007
G. Pimentel et al., High-resolution Characterisation of Austenitic Stainless Steel in PWR Environments: Effect of Strain and Surface Finish on Crack Initiation and Propagation (this conference)
F. Scenini et al. Mechanistic Understanding of Environmentally Assisted Fatigue Crack Growth of Austenitic Stainless Steels in PWR Environments (this conference)
S. Nouraei, D.R. Tice, in Towards a Mechanistic Understanding of the Influence of Thermo-Mechanical Treatment on Crack Initiation in High Temperature PWR Environments. Proceedings 16th International Conference on Environmental Degradation of Materials in Nuclear Power Systems-Water Reactors, Asheville, NC, Aug 2007
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society
About this paper
Cite this paper
Tice, D.R. et al. (2019). Microstructural Effects on Stress Corrosion Initiation in Austenitic Stainless Steel in PWR Environments. 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_50
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04639-2_50
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-04638-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-04639-2
eBook Packages: Chemistry and Materials ScienceChemistry and Material Science (R0)