Abstract
The presented paper summarizes the results of general corrosion and
stress corrosion cracking (SCC) susceptibility tests in supercritical
water (SCW), studied for austenitic stainless steel 316L, with the aim
to identify maximum SCW temperature usability and specific failure
mechanisms prevailing during slow strain-rate tensile (SSRT) tests in
ultra-pure demineralized SCW solution with controlled oxygen content.
The general corrosion tests clearly revealed the applicability of
austenitic stainless steel in SCW to be limited to 550 °C as maximum temperature as oxidation rates of austenitic stainless steels 316L increase dramatically above 550 °C. The SSRT tests were performed using a step-motor controlled loading device in an autoclave at 550 °C
SCW. Besides the strain rate (resp. crosshead speed), the oxygen
content was varied in the series of tests. The obtained results showed
that even at the lowest strain rate, a serious increase of SCC
susceptibility, as typically characterized by IGSCC crack growth, was
not observed. The fractography confirmed that failure was due to a
combination of transgranular SCC and transgranular ductile fracture.
Based on fractographic findings a phenomenological map describing the
SCC regime of SSRT test parameters could be proposed for AISI 316L.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 117-123 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | Journal of Nuclear Materials |
Volume | 409 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2010 |
MoE publication type | A1 Journal article-refereed |
Event | IAEA-EC Topical Meeting on Development of New Structural Materials for Advanced Fission and Fusion Reactor Materials, TR-37435 - Barcelona, Spain Duration: 5 Oct 2009 → 9 Oct 2009 |
Keywords
- SCW
- Corrosion
- SCC
- SSRT
- general corrosion