TY - JOUR
T1 - Electrochemical investigation of in-service thermal aging in two CF8M cast stainless steels
AU - Huotilainen, Caitlin
AU - Ivanchenko, Mykola
AU - Efsing, Pål
AU - Ehrnsten, Ulla
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was performed within the framework of the “Thermal ageing and EAC research for plant life management” (THELMA) project funded by the Finnish Research Programme on Nuclear Power Plant Safety 2015–2018 ( SAFIR2018 ). The authors would like to sincerely thank Ringhals AB, for providing and delivering the thermally aged materials for this study, along with M. Bjurman (Studsvik Nuclear AB, KTH), H. Hänninen (Aalto University), T. Ikäläinen (VTT), T. Lehtikuusi (VTT), A. Nurmela (VTT) and L. Kilpi (VTT) for their valuable contributions to this research work.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Elsevier B.V.
Copyright:
Copyright 2019 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2019/7
Y1 - 2019/7
N2 - In-service thermal aging of CF8M cast austenitic stainless steel was investigated in materials removed from the steam generator inlet and crossover elbows of the Ringhals 2 pressurized water reactor nuclear power plant unit after approximately 92kh of full operating time. The thermal aging of these materials was investigated using the double loop electrochemical potentiokinetic reactivation method, coupled with indentation hardness measurements and microstructural characterizations, to identify correlations between the electrochemical behavior and traditional methods of investigating thermal aging embrittlement effects in cast stainless steels. While this electrochemical method can be easily employed to quantify thermal aging effects in materials aged at higher temperatures (e.g. greater than 350∘C), this study highlights the difficulties encountered when electrochemically evaluating the aging of materials exposed to nuclear power plant operating conditions.
AB - In-service thermal aging of CF8M cast austenitic stainless steel was investigated in materials removed from the steam generator inlet and crossover elbows of the Ringhals 2 pressurized water reactor nuclear power plant unit after approximately 92kh of full operating time. The thermal aging of these materials was investigated using the double loop electrochemical potentiokinetic reactivation method, coupled with indentation hardness measurements and microstructural characterizations, to identify correlations between the electrochemical behavior and traditional methods of investigating thermal aging embrittlement effects in cast stainless steels. While this electrochemical method can be easily employed to quantify thermal aging effects in materials aged at higher temperatures (e.g. greater than 350∘C), this study highlights the difficulties encountered when electrochemically evaluating the aging of materials exposed to nuclear power plant operating conditions.
KW - cast stainless steel
KW - double loop electochemical potentiokinetic reactivation
KW - G-phase
KW - nanoindentation
KW - spinodal decomposition
KW - thermal aging
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85064254951&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.jnucmat.2019.04.001
DO - 10.1016/j.jnucmat.2019.04.001
M3 - Article
SN - 0022-3115
VL - 520
SP - 34
EP - 40
JO - Journal of Nuclear Materials
JF - Journal of Nuclear Materials
ER -