Characteristics of Crack Propagation through SCC Under BWR Conditions in Stainless Steels Stabilized with Titanium or Niobium

Effect of nitrogen content in sensitised austenitic stainless steel on the crack growth rate in simulated BWR environment

“…The cracking of sensitised SS in BWR environment has been found to occur at potentials more oxidizing than a threshold potential (À230 mV SHE at 288°C) [18]. Several kinds of ionic impurities, like sulphate, chloride, carbonate, fluoride, chromate, nitrate and phosphate ions, etc., have also been reported to be able to accelerate the initiation and propagation of intergranular stress corrosion cracks in sensitised type 304 stainless steel and alloy 600 in high-temperature water [19][20][21].…”

“…Such type of cracking was also observed in austenitic SS stabilized by titanium or niobium which are inherently more resistant to sensitization. Cracking in the stabilized SS was primarily attributed to the decomposition of the stabilized carbides during processing and the subsequent local sensitization of the material during reactor operation [19,39,40].…”

“…The effect of various parameters on the IGSCC CGR in SS has been studied. The effect of test temperature [21,46,47], environmental variables like DO and ECP [39,[48][49][50] and ionic impurities [19,21,39] have been widely studied.…”