Oxidation embrittlement of grain boundaries in nickel alloys

Book · Fri Sep 01 00:00:00 EDT 1995

OSTI ID:99536

Gendron, T S; Cleland, R D ^[1]; Newman, R C ^[2]

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1. AECL Chalk River Lab., Chalk River, Ontario (Canada)
2. UMIST, Manchester (United Kingdom). Corrosion and Protection Centre

Intergranular oxidation-embrittlement of Alloy 600 has been studied by surface analysis of fractured thin foils pre-exposed to hydrogenated steam at 400 C. The results are believed to be relevant to primary-water stress corrosion cracking in nuclear power plants. Earlier work had shown that pre-exposure to this environment caused several micrometers of intergranular failure during subsequent straining. This cracking had none of the characteristics of hydrogen embrittlement and could be due to oxidation of chromium and/or carbon at the grain boundaries, or to ingress of a monolayer of oxygen. New results show that an oxide phase of chromium does indeed penetrate but most of the cracking seems to be due to oxygen segregation. Sulfur was also found on the fractured boundaries.

• OSTI ID: 99536
• Report Number(s): CONF-950304--
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
CANDU TYPE REACTORS
CRACK PROPAGATION
EMBRITTLEMENT
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
INCONEL 600
INTERGRANULAR CORROSION
NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS
OXIDATION
PRIMARY COOLANT CIRCUITS
STRESS CORROSION
WATER CHEMISTRY