Water-jet peening (WJP) has been applied to several Japanese nuclear power plants as a method of preventive maintenance against stress corrosion cracking. WJP introduces compressive residual stress reaching hundreds of micrometers in depth, comparable with shot peening (SP), and much smaller plastic deformation at the processed surfaces than SP does. The causes of these features are investigated from the perspective of the impact processes on the surfaces. Pulse-load propagation simulation through elasto-plastic calculations using a finite-element method program was applied to analyze the effects of various parameters of the impact processes on the depth profiles of the residual stress and the amount of plastic deformation on the surface of austenitic stainless steels processed with either WJP or the SP. The calculated depth profiles of residual stress and plastic deformation were similar in some degree to the experimental results of an XRD residual-stress analysis and a plastic-strain analysis using both cross-sectional hardness measurements and EBSD analysis. The analysis reveals that the depth of the compressive residual stress tends to increase as the size of the loaded spot during impact increases. The average and maximum observed load spots using WJP were 0.25 and 0.95 mm in diameter, respectively. These diameters were respectively 1.3 and 4.8 times as large as the calculated diameter of a load spot using SP. The reason that the depth of the compressive residual stress using WJP is comparable with that using SP is considered to be the fact that the sizes of the load spots during the impact with WJP are in the same range as those with SP. Shots impact the surface during the SP process, while shock waves generated by the extinction of cavitations impact the surface during the WJP process. The analysis reveals that the shots deform the surface locally with much higher surface pressure in the early stages of the impact, while shock waves deform the surface evenly throughout the wave passage across the surface. It is inferred from these analyzed results that the media impacting the surface make a difference in the hardness and microstructure of the processed surface.

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Our goal for this study was to understand the cause of the differences in surface properties between surfaces processed using water jet peening (WJP) and shot peening (SP) and to examine the compressive residual stress introduction process with low plastic strain using SP. The dynamic behaviors of stress and strain in surfaces during these processes were analyzed through elasto-plastic calculations using a finite-element method program, and the calculated results were compared with measured results obtained through experiments. Media impacting a surface results in a difference in the hardness and microstructure of the processed surface. During SP, a shot deforms the surface locally with stress concentration in the early stages of the impact, while shock waves deform the surface evenly throughout the wave passage across the surface during WJP. A shot with a larger diameter creates a larger impact area on the surface during shot impact. Thus, SP with a large-diameter shot suppresses the stress concentration under the same kinetic energy condition. As the shot diameter increases, the equivalent plastic strain decreases. On the other hand, the shot is subject to size restriction since the calculated results indicate the compressive residual stress at the surface decreased and occasionally became almost zero as the shot diameter increased. Thus, compressive residual stress introduction with low plastic strain by using SP is considered achievable by using shots with a large diameter and choosing the appropriate peening conditions.

As known as typical texture material with coarse grain, weld metal or its vicinity meets difficulties in residual stress measurement especially using sin 2 ψ method with conventional zero or one-dimensional X-ray diffraction. In this study a two-dimensional X-ray diffraction system based on cosα method is developed for in-service residual stress measurement of weld metal in structural components. Validity of residual stress measurement using this system is verified by several confirming tests including nickel-based weld metal. Positioning jig is designed and fabricated for welds on the shroud support plate of boiling water reactor (BWR). Setup test on the mock-up of BWR bottom area shows the possibility of in-service measurement using this system.

Water Jet Peening (WJP) has been widely applied to nuclear power plants in Japan as one of mitigation techniques against Stress Corrosion Cracking (SCC) initiation [1]. WJP utilizes high pressure water flow including numerous cavitation bubbles and improves surface residual stress of susceptible materials used in reactor internals from tensile stress to compressive stress without significant plastic deformation, hardening, heating and furthermore retrieval of foreign materials. An inspection relief for the Primary Water SCC (PWSCC) concerned components, by means of peening technique application, has been discussed among PWR owners in the US for about last 10 years. The topical report on PWSCC mitigation by surface stress improvement (Material Reliability Program (MRP)-335, revision 3-A) was published through the above activities by Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) MRP [2]. The target components, where PWSCC is concerned, are listed as Reactor Pressure Vessel Head Penetration Nozzles (RPVHPNs), such as Control Rod Drive Mechanism Nozzle (CRDMN), and dissimilar metal welds (DMWs) of Reactor Coolant System (RCS) nozzles, and performance criteria for peening are defined in the topical report. Moreover, the technical basis for PWSCC mitigation by surface stress improvement (MRP-267, revision 2) was published by EPRI MRP [3].The report details numerous data for each peening technique which show the effectiveness in mitigating the PWSCC initiation and its sustainability, i.e. state of stress. The report also includes the process control; covering nozzle diameter, water flow rate, application time, jet stand-off, impingement angle and stationary nozzle time for WJP [3]. RPVHPNs inner diameter (ID), such as CRDMN ID, is in narrower areas than the other target components of peening techniques. Hence the WJP nozzle should be set appropriate condition, e. g. sufficient stand-off distance or angle of the WJP nozzle, in line with the MRP-267 in order to ensure the stress improvement effect by WJP. Further, the reactor pressure vessel head, which has the RPVHPNs including the CRDMNs, is placed on the refueling floor and under atmosphere condition during outage, and therefore, the CRDMNs have to be filled with water by plugging etc. for WJP application on CRDMN ID. Thus the CRDMN ID becomes a closed narrow chamber. In such a closed narrow chamber, water flow might become complex and disturb the cavitation collapse on the target surface, resulting in decreased stress improvement. Additionally, WJP has been rarely applied in a narrow closed water chamber, and only a few residual stress measurement data are available for such a WJP treated specimen. For the above reason, we has conducted a WJP test utilizing the water chamber and measured the residual stress of the test coupon simulating the CRDMN ID before and after WJP application as our own research. As a result, an improvement in residual stress was ensured even in an application of WJP in a closed narrow water chamber, which assumes CRDMN ID configuration, and created a depth over the performance criteria (0.01” (0.25 mm) in depth) stated in MRP-335 [2]. As an another applicability study, we developed a WJP tool for Bottom Mounted Instrument (BMI) Nozzles and confirmed that the residual stress of BMI ID and Outer Diameter (OD) can be improved . The background of this study is that BMI nozzle is under discussion for inspection relief as one of the components which are concerned about PWSCC. Especially, BMI ID is narrow area for WJP application; on the other hand it does not need to become a closed chamber since the reactor pressure vessel, which has the BMI Nozzles on the bottom head, is filled with water during outage. As a result, it is ensured that the residual stress for BMI ID and OD is improved by WJP to a depth of at least 0.2mm which is deeper than the performance criteria for the depth of compressive residual stress of Austenitic Stainless Steel in Japan (3.9 × 10−3” (0.1mm) in depth).