Overview of the swelling behavior of 316 stainless steel

Conference · Sun Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1984

OSTI ID:5274412

Garner, F A

The austenitic stainless steel designated as AISI 316 is currently being used as the major structural material for fast breeder reactors in the United States, Britain and France. Efforts are now underway in each country to optimize the swelling resistance of this alloy for further application to both fission and fusion power generating devices. The optimization effort requires knowledge of the factors which control swelling in order that appropriate compositional and fabricational modifications can be made to the alloy specification. The swelling data for this alloy are reviewed and the conclusion is reached that optimization efforts must focus on the incubation or transient regime of swelling rather than the post-transient or ''steady-state'' regime. Attempts to reduce the swelling of this steel by solute modification have focused on elements such as phosphorus and titanium. It is shown that the action of these solutes is manifested only in their ability to extend the transient regime. It is also shown that irradiation at high helium/dpa ratios does not appear to change the conclusions of this study. Another important conclusion is that small differences in reactor environmental history can have a larger influence than either helium or solutes. 31 refs., 27 figs., 1 tab.

• Research Organization: Hanford Engineering Development Lab., Richland, WA (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC06-76FF02170
• OSTI ID: 5274412
• Report Number(s): HEDL-SA-3329; CONF-840251-2; ON: DE85018478
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
210500 -- Power Reactors
Breeding
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
360104* -- Metals & Alloys-- Physical Properties
70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
700209 -- Fusion Power Plant Technology-- Component Development & Materials Testing
ALLOYS
CHROMIUM ALLOYS
CHROMIUM STEELS
CHROMIUM-NICKEL STEELS
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
CORROSION RESISTANT ALLOYS
DATA
DENSITY
ELEMENTS
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
HEAT RESISTANT MATERIALS
HEAT RESISTING ALLOYS
HIGH TEMPERATURE
INFORMATION
IRON ALLOYS
IRON BASE ALLOYS
MATERIALS
METALLURGICAL EFFECTS
METALS
MOLYBDENUM ALLOYS
NEUTRON FLUENCE
NEUTRON FLUX
NICKEL ALLOYS
NONMETALS
NUMERICAL DATA
PHOSPHORUS
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
PHYSICAL RADIATION EFFECTS
RADIATION EFFECTS
RADIATION FLUX
SEMIMETALS
SILICON
STAINLESS STEEL-316
STAINLESS STEELS
STEELS
SWELLING
TEMPERATURE DEPENDENCE
TITANIUM
TRANSITION ELEMENTS