Neutron irradiation influences stress corrosion crack (SCC) growth of stainless steels in multiple ways. From a sound understanding of SCC under unirradiated conditions, the most likely roles of irradiation involve radiolysis, radiation hardening, radiation segregation, and radiation creep relaxation. When the contribution of radiolysis to increased corrosion potential is effectively eliminated by high H2 fugacity in PWRs or NobleChem + H2 in BWRs, there is a greatly diminished influence of radiation segregation (esp. Cr depletion). However, the role of radiation hardening persists under these conditions, and therefore is of special interest. Based on the hypothesis that the primary role of radiation hardening is to increase the yield strength, studies have been performed on cold worked stainless steel, and show a similar effect on SCC growth rates at low and high corrosion potential.

Subject
Hardening, Crack growth, Water, Materials, Stress intensity, Corrosion rate, Irradiation assisted stress corrosion cracking, Stress cracking, Crack length, Stainless steel, Yield strength, Corrosion potential, Stress corrosion cracking
Keywords:
stainless steel, stress corrosion cracking, radiation hardening, cold work, irradiation effects, high temperature water, crack growth rate, corrosion potential, water purity, stress intensity factor
© 2002 Association for Materials Protection and Performance (AMPP). All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of AMPP. Positions and opinions advanced in this work are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of AMPP. Responsibility for the content of the work lies solely with the author(s).
2002
Association for Materials Protection and Performance (AMPP)
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