STRESS CORROSION CRACKING OF A 52M WELD OVERLAY IN A PWR ENVIRONMENT
Weld overlays (WOL) of alloys believed to possess superior stress corrosion cracking (SCC) resistance due to their higher Cr content are typically applied over welds made with SCC-susceptible alloys with the expectation that they will act as a barrier to SCC. The objective of this work was to investigate the SCC behavior near or at the WOL interface. For this purpose, a 52M WOL was deposited on a double-J Alloy 182 weld using prototypical welding parameters. In the first set stage of this work, cracks were initiated in Alloy 182 and allowed to propagate in a direction perpendicular to the Alloy 52M WOL interface. Two identical tests conducted in this manner revealed that the average SCC propagation rates in Alloy 182 decreased by an order of magnitude to approx. 10-11 m/s by the time they reached the Alloy 52M interface, and that they continued to propagate past the interface into Alloy 52M at a similar rate. The post-test examination found that significant crack branching occurred at the interface between the two alloys, with SCC propagation along both the original direction into Alloy 52M and the interface between the two welds. Growth along the interface between the two welds was severe, with a rates estimated at approx. 10-10 m/s. While the average rate of propagation in Alloy 52M was measured to be in the 10-11 m/s range, the maximum SCC penetration into Alloy 52M was 2.5 mm which translates into an estimated maximum SCC rate an order of magnitude higher. Hence, in the second stage of this work – and this is the focus of this paper, confirmatory tests were conducted with the specimens aligned along the WOL interface. These tests substantiated the earlier findings: the SCC rate under constant load conditions at the interface between the two welds (20% Cr) was slightly faster than that in Alloy 52M near the interface (25% Cr), and both were in the 10-10 m/s range.
- Research Organization:
- Argonne National Laboratory (ANL)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC02-06CH11357
- OSTI ID:
- 1351994
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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