Technical Letter Report on the Cracking of Irradiated Cast Stainless Steels with Low Ferrite Content

Chen, Y.¹  Alexandreanu, B.¹  Natesan, K.¹ 

[1]Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)

关键词: AUSTENITIC STEELS;    STAINLESS STEELS;    FRACTURE PROPERTIES;    NEUTRONS;    CRACKS;    IRRADIATION;    PWR TYPE REACTORS;    WATER;    AGING;    EMBRITTLEMENT;    STRESS CORROSION;    CRACK PROPAGATION;    DIAGRAMS;    TEMPERATURE RANGE 0400-1000 K;    PHYSICAL RADIATION EFFECTS;    FERRITE;   

DOI  :  10.2172/1212768
RP-ID  :  ANL--14/16
PID  :  OSTI ID: 1212768
Others  :  Other: 118480
Others  :  TRN: US1500889

学科分类：材料科学（综合）

美国|英语

来源: SciTech Connect

【 摘 要 】

Crack growth rate and fracture toughness J-R curve tests were performed on CF-3 and CF-8 cast austenite stainless steels (CASS) with 13-14% of ferrite. The tests were conducted at ~320?��C in either high-purity water with low dissolved oxygen or in simulated PWR water. The cyclic crack growth rates of CF-8 were higher than that of CF-3, and the differences between the aged and unaged specimens were small. No elevated SCC susceptibility was observed among these samples, and the SCC CGRs of these materials were comparable to those of CASS alloys with >23% ferrite. The fracture toughness values of unirradiated CF-3 were similar between unaged and aged specimens, and neutron irradiation decreased the fracture toughness significantly. The fracture toughness of CF-8 was reduced after thermal aging, and declined further after irradiation. It appears that while lowering ferrite content may help reduce the tendency of thermal aging embrittlement, it is not very effective to mitigate irradiation-induced embrittlement. Under a combined condition of thermal aging and irradiation, neutron irradiation plays a dominant role in causing embrittlement in CASS alloys.