Fatigue of carbon and low-alloy steels in LWR environments
Fatigue tests have been conducted on A106-Gr B carbon steel and A533-Gr B low-alloy steel to evaluate the effects of an oxygenated-water environment on the fatigue life of these steels. For both steels, environmental effects are modest in PWR water at all strain rates. Fatigue data in oxygenated water confirm the strong dependence of fatigue life on dissolved oxygen (DO) and strain rate. The effect of strain rate on fatigue life saturates at some low value, e.g., between 0.0004 and 0.001%/s in oxygenated water with {approximately}0.8 ppm DO. The data suggest that the saturation value of strain rate may vary with DO and sulfur content of the steel. Although the cyclic stress-strain and cyclic-hardening behavior of carbon and low-alloy steels is distinctly different, the degradation of fatigue life of these two steels with comparable sulfur levels is similar. The carbon steel exhibits pronounced dynamic strain aging, whereas strain-aging effects are modest in the low-alloy steel. Environmental effects on nucleation of fatigue crack have also been investigated. The results suggest that the high-temperature oxygenated water has little or no effect on crack nucleation.
- Research Organization:
- Argonne National Lab., IL (United States). Energy Technology Div.
- Sponsoring Organization:
- Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-31109-ENG-38
- OSTI ID:
- 10114321
- Report Number(s):
- ANL/ET/CP-80135; CONF-931079-16; ON: DE94005116; TRN: 94:002243
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 21. water reactor safety information meeting,Bethesda, MD (United States),25-27 Oct 1993; Other Information: PBD: Oct 1993
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
WATER COOLED REACTORS
REACTOR MATERIALS
FATIGUE
CARBON STEELS
LOW ALLOY STEELS
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
MICROSTRUCTURE
STRAIN HARDENING
WATER CHEMISTRY
360103
210200
210100
MECHANICAL PROPERTIES
POWER REACTORS
NONBREEDING
LIGHT-WATER MODERATED
NONBOILING WATER COOLED
POWER REACTORS
NONBREEDING
LIGHT-WATER MODERATED
BOILING WATER COOLED