Abstract
In Finland and Sweden nuclear waste disposal is planned
to be executed according to the KBS-3-concept. In the
concept copper canisters containing the used nuclear fuel
are buried in 400-500 m deep in the bedrock. Eventually
the surface of the copper canister will come in contact
with bentonite pore water which contains corrosive
species such as sulphide. In this paper the effect of
exposure to sulphide containing bentonite pore water at
room temperature on the mechanical properties of oxygen
free phosphorous doped copper (CuOFP) was studied with
standard ex situ tensile and creep tests. Stress
corrosion cracking (SCC) susceptibility of CuOFP was
studied with in situ slow strain rate testing (SSRT).
Tensile tests performed at room temperature showed a
slight trend of degradation in mechanical properties with
increasing sulphide concentration. Creep tests were
accelerated by performing them at an elevated temperature
of T 5-15°C, but still within the power law creep regime.
In creep tests the same kind of trend as in the tensile
tests could be observed but when the results were
compared to the publicly available CuOFP creep data the
variations between the exposed and reference samples lay
within the data scatter.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 410-414 |
Journal | Corrosion Engineering Science and Technology |
Volume | 49 |
Issue number | 6 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2014 |
MoE publication type | A1 Journal article-refereed |
Keywords
- nuclear waste canisters
- repositories
- sulphide
- oxygen free phosphorus doped copper
- mechanical properties