Environmentally assisted cracking in light water reactors. Semiannual report July 1996--December 1996
- Argonne National Lab., IL (United States); and others
This report summarizes work performed by Argonne National Laboratory on fatigue and environmentally assisted cracking (EAC) in light water reactors from July 1996 to December 1996. Topics that have been investigated include (a) fatigue of carbon, low-alloy, and austenitic stainless steels (SSs) used in reactor piping and pressure vessels, (b) irradiation-assisted stress corrosion cracking of Type 304 SS, (c) EAC of Alloy 600, and (d) characterization of residual stresses in welds of boiling water reactor (BWR) core shrouds by numerical models. Fatigue tests were conducted on ferritic and austenitic SSs in water that contained various concentrations of dissolved oxygen to determine whether a slow strain rate applied during various portions of a tensile-loading cycle are equally effective in decreasing fatigue life. Slow-strain-rate-tensile tests were conducted in simulated BWR water at 288 C on SS specimens irradiated to a low fluence in the Halden reactor and the results were compared with similar data from a control-blade sheath and neutron-absorber tubes irradiated in BWRs to the same fluence level. Crack-growth-rate tests were conducted on compact-tension specimens from a low-carbon content heat of Alloy 600 in high-purity oxygenated water at 289 C. Residual stresses and stress intensity factors were calculated for BWR core shroud welds.
- Research Organization:
- Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC (United States). Div. of Engineering Technology; Argonne National Lab., IL (United States); Battelle, Columbus, OH (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-31109-ENG-38
- OSTI ID:
- 541938
- Report Number(s):
- NUREG/CR--4667-Vol.23; ANL--97/10; ON: TI98000789
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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