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Title: Environmental cracking of Alloy 600 in BWR environments

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:6118258

Alloy 600 may be sensitized to intergranular stress corrosion cracking (IGSCC) in both BWR normal water chemistry (NWC) and in hydrogen water chemistry (HWC). Carbide precipitation causes chromium depleted grain boundaries, which are susceptible to IGSCC in NWC but not in HWC. The mechanism for chromium depletion is complex due to the existence of two chromium carbides. Segregated phosphorous enhances IGSCC of Alloy 600 with chromium depleted grain boundaries in NWC. Under all other conditions phosphorous seems harmless. Grain boundary segregated sulfur is suspect of enhancing IGSCC in both NWC and HWC, but no verifying tests have been performed. Boron and nitrogen have a strong tendency to segregate to grain boundaries in Alloy 600, but seem to be harmless. Only few crack propagation data relevant to BWR conditions exist for Alloy 600. The paper describes mechanisms for sensitization, stress corrosion cracking, and crack propagation rates. 94 refs., 21 figs., 1 tab.

Research Organization:
Electric Power Research Inst., Palo Alto, CA (USA); ABB Atom AB, Vaesteraas (Sweden)
Sponsoring Organization:
EPRI; Electric Power Research Inst., Palo Alto, CA (USA)
OSTI ID:
6118258
Report Number(s):
EPRI-NP-7199; TRN: 91-009370
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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