Effects of LWR coolant environments on fatigue lives of austenitic stainless steels

Abstract

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Environmentally assisted cracking in light water reactors : Annual Report, January-December 2003.

“…A detailed description of the test facility and test procedures has been presented earlier. 6 Following testing, ≈10-mm-long sections that contained the fracture surface were cut from the gauge length. These were further stripped of oxides by boiling in a 20 wt.% NaOH and 3 wt.% KMnO 4 solution, followed by boiling in a 20 wt.% (NH 4 ) 2 C 6 H 6 O 7 solution.…”

“…Strain rate and temperature have a strong effect on fatigue life in LWR environments. 6,7 Fatigue life decreases logarithmically with decreasing strain rate below 0.4%/s; this effect vanishes at 0.0004%/s. In addition, the fatigue ε-N data suggest a threshold temperature of 150°C; in the range of 150-325°C, the logarithm of life decreases linearly with temperature.…”

“…The existing fatigue ε-N data illustrate potentially significant effects of light water reactor (LWR) coolant environments on the fatigue resistance of carbon and low-alloy steels, [3][4][5] as well as austenitic stainless steels (SSs). [4][5][6][7] Under certain environmental and loading conditions, fatigue lives of austenitic SSs can be a factor of 20 lower in water than in air. 6 In LWR environments, the fatigue lives of austenitic SSs depend on applied strain amplitude, strain rate, temperature, and dissolved oxygen (DO) in water.…”

“…[4][5][6][7] Under certain environmental and loading conditions, fatigue lives of austenitic SSs can be a factor of 20 lower in water than in air. 6 In LWR environments, the fatigue lives of austenitic SSs depend on applied strain amplitude, strain rate, temperature, and dissolved oxygen (DO) in water. A minimum threshold strain is required for inducing an environmentally assisted decrease in the fatigue life.…”

Fatigue Life and Crack Growth Mechanisms of the Type 316LN Austenitic Stainless Steel in 310°C Deoxygenated Water

“…As reactor components are subjected to the cyclic stresses in high-temperature corrosive aqueous environments, the environmental fatigue damage of metallic components is one of the most important degradation mechanisms in nuclear power plants. [1][2][3][4][5] As austenitic Stainless Steels (SSs) have been used widely as structural materials in nuclear power plants, the Low Cycle Fatigue (LCF) behaviors of austenitic SSs in high-temperature water are important to assess the integrity of nuclear power plant components. Thus far, many studies regarding the environmental fatigue of austenitic SSs have been performed in high-temperature water, 1,5) and several models have been suggested to incorporate the environmental effects on the fatigue life evaluation process.…”