• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.183-190
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• 2015

Fatigue crack growth rate tests were conducted as a function of temperature, dissolved hydrogen (DH) level, and frequency in a simulated PWR environment. Fatigue crack growth rates increased slightly with increasing temperature in air. However, the fatigue crack growth rate did not change with increasing temperature in PWR water conditions. The DH levels did not affect the measured crack growth rate under the given test conditions. At $316^{\circ}C$, oxides were observed on the fatigue crack surface, where the size of the oxide particles was about $0.2{\mu}m$ at 5 ppb. Fatigue crack growth rate increased slightly with decreasing frequency within the frequency range of 0.1 Hz and 10 Hz in PWR water conditions; however, crack growth rate increased considerably at 0.01 Hz. The decrease of the fatigue crack growth rate in PWR water condition is attributed to crack closure resulting from the formation of oxides near the crack tips at a rather fast loading frequency of 10 Hz.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.50 no.8
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• pp.583-589
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• 2012

This work is concerned with a statistical approach to the life prediction on irradiation-assisted stress corrosion cracking (IASCC) of stainless steel (SS) for core internals of a pressurized water reactor (PWR). The previous results of the time-to-failure of IASCC measured on neutron-irradiated stainless steel components were statistically analyzed in terms of stress and irradiation. The accelerating life testing model of IASCC of cold worked Type 316 SS was established based on an inverse power model with two stress-variables, the applied stress and irradiation dose. Considering the variation of the yield strength and applied stress with the irradiation dose in the model, the remaining life of the baffle former bolt was statistically predicted during operation under complex environments of stress and irradiation.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.85-93
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• 2021

The corrosion damage of materials in marine environment mainly occurs by Cl^- ions due to the breakdown of passive films. Additionally, various characteristics in seawater such as salinity, temperature, immersion time, flow rate, and biological activity also affect corrosion characteristics. In this study, the corrosion characteristics of stainless steels (STS 304 and STS 316L) and anodized aluminum alloys (AA 3003 and AA 6063) were evaluated with seawater temperature parameters. A potentiodynamic polarization experiment was conducted in a potential range of -0.25 V to 2.0 V at open circuit potential (OCP). Corrosion current density and corrosion potential were obtained through the Tafel extrapolation method to analyze changes in corrosion rate due to temperature. Corrosion behavior was evaluated by measuring weight loss before/after the experiment and also observing surface morphology through a scanning electronic microscope (SEM) and 3D microscopy. Weight loss, maximum damage depth and pitting damage increased as seawater temperature increased, and furthermore, the tendency of higher corrosion current density with an increase of temperature attributed to an increase in corrosion rate. There was lower pitting damage and lower corrosion current density for anodized aluminum alloys than for stainless steels as the temperature increased.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.457-465
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• 2023

Irradiation-assisted stress corrosion cracking (IASCC) is one of the main degradation mechanisms of austenitic stainless steels, which are used as reactor internal materials. Slow strain rate testing (SSRT) has been widely applied to evaluate the IASCC initiation characteristics of proton-irradiated tensile specimens. Tensile specimens require low surface roughness for micro-crack observation, and electropolishing is the most important specimen pre-treatment process used for this. In this study, optimal electropolishing conditions were examined through analyzing results of polarization experiments and surface roughness measurements after electropolishing. Corrosion cell and electropolishing equipment were fabricated for polarization tests and electropolishing experiments using SSRT specimens. The experimental parameters were electropolishing time, current density, electrolyte temperature, and stirring speed. The optimal electropolishing conditions for SSRT tensile specimens made of type 316 stainless steel were evaluated as a polishing time of 180 seconds, a current density of 0.15 A/cm², an electrolyte temperature of 60 ℃, and a stirring speed of 200 RPM.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.38 no.12
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• pp.1415-1420
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• 2014

Super-critical $CO_2$ ($S-CO_2$) Brayton cycle has been considered to replace the current steam Rankine cycle in Sodium-cooled Fast Reactor (SFR) in order to improve the inherent safety and thermal efficiency. Several austenitic alloys are considered as the structural materials for high temperature $S-CO_2$ environment.. Microstructural change after long-term exposure to high temperature $S-CO_2$ environment could affect to the mechanical properties. In this study, candidate materials (austenitic stainless steels and Alloy 800HT) were exposed to $S-CO_2$ to assess oxidation resistance and the change in tensile properties. Loss of ductility was observed for some austenitic stainless steels even after 250 h exposure. The contribution of $S-CO_2$ environment on such changes was analyzed based on the characterization of the surface oxide and carburization of the materials in which 316H and 800H showed different oxidation behaviors.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Fisheries and Ocean Technology
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.132-140
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• 1991

The aim of this study was saving of chromium and nickel content in the austenitic stainless steels, SUS 316 and SUS 321. By control of primary solidification mode, new austenitic stainless steels with good weldability, high toughness and corrosion resistance could be developed. The main results obtained were as follows; 1. Hot crack resistance of laboratory melts was good and higher than imported austenitic stainless steel. 2. Cryogenic and room temperature toughness of laboratory melts were high and laboratory melts M-7 to M-9 showed very high toughness than SUS321 imported stainless steel. 3. Intergranular corrosion resistance of laboratory melts was higher than imported stainless steels, SUS316 and SUS321. 4. By this concept of controlling primary solidification mode, could save expensive alloy additives, chromium and nickel.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.38 no.12
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• pp.1421-1426
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• 2014

To improve the inherent safety of the sodium-cooled fast reactor (SFR), the supercritical $CO_2$ ($S-CO_2$) Brayton cycle is being considered as an alternative power conversion system to steam the Rankine cycle. In the $S-CO_2$ system, a PCHE (printed circuit heat exchanger) is being considered. In this type of heat exchangers, diffusion bonding is used for joining the thin plates. In this study, the diffusion bonding characteristics of various austenitic alloys were evaluated. The tensile properties were measured at temperatures starting from the room temperature up to $650^{\circ}C$. For the 316H and 347H types of stainless steel, the tensile ductility was well maintained up to $550^{\circ}C$. However, the Incoloy 800HT showed lower strength and ductility at all temperatures. The microstructure near the bond line was examined to understand the reason for the loss of ductility at high temperatures.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.64-72
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• 2011

The spot weldability of dissimilar metal joints between austenitic stainless steels (STS316)/IF steels and ferritic stainless steels (STS430)/IF steels was investigated. This study was aimed to determine the spot welding parameters for a dissimilar metal joint and to evaluate the dissimilar metal joint's weldability, including its welding nugget shape, tensile-shear strength, hardness, and microstructure. The comparison of these results was described in terms of fracture behavior. Compared with the weld lobe of similar metal joints, dissimilar metal joints (STS430/IF) had reduced weld current range. However, the weld lobe of STS316/IF steel joint showed increased weld current range. This is because the dilution of chemical composition in the molten weld pool suppressed the heat input being caused by Joule heat with current flow through the samples. The microstructure of the fusion zone was fully martensite and mixture of ferrite and martensite for austenitic stainless steel/IF steel and ferritic stainless steel/IF steel combination, respectively. The experimental results showed that the shape of nugget was asymmetric, in which the fusion zone of the austenitic and ferritic stainless steel sheet was larger due to the higher bulk-resistance. The predicted microstructure by using the Schaeffler diagram was well matched with experimental results. After peel test, the fracture was initiated from heat affected zone of ferritic stainless steel sheet side, however the final fracture was propagated into the IF steel sheet side due to its lower strength.

• Journal of Korea Ship Safrty Technology Authority
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• s.22
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• pp.34-53
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• 2007

In the case of hull material. large sized merchant ships are made of steel, on the other hand FRP or wood are used for small sized fishing boats. At present in Korea approximately 88,500 fishing boats are in operation of which 70% are made of FRP In the meantime, stainless steel is frequently used as shaft materials of the small-size FRP fishing boat. Namely, the kinds of shaft materials are STS 304(18Cr-8Ni), STS 316(18Cr-12Ni-2.5Mo steel) and STS 630(17Cr-Ni-Nb steel)etc. Among these things, STS 304 which is the cheapest and having ordinary corrosion resistance is most widely used as 2nd class shaft material. But, using STS 304 for shaft system material of the small-size FRP fishing boat on seawater environments entails a severe corrosion which causes shaft system troubles. Particularly, the corrosions tend to be concentrated of the stern and bow side, propeller shaft surface of inside of stern tube and the boat having no stern cooling pipe line system. As a solution for those problems, research on the ways to mitigate corrosion on the part of 2nd class stainless steel shaft have been undertaken. In the result, not only clarification for the reason of corrosion of the part of stainless steel shaft used mainly for the small-size FRP fishing boat was done, but also most optimal corrosion protection system was developed by experimenting shaft's protection simulation based of the electrochemical cathodic protection principle. In addition, verification through the field test on the optimal cathodic corrosion protection method by means of aluminum sacrificial anode was carried out. In this study, effective and economical shaft's protection system is suggested to the small-size FRP fishing boat operator by substantiating the results obtained from the research on the optimal cathodic protection.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.84-92
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• 2023

As temporary storage facilities for spent nuclear fuels in domestic nuclear power plants are expected to be saturated, external intermediate storage facilities would be required in the future. Spent nuclear fuels are stored in metal canisters and then placed in a dry environment within concrete or metal casing for operation. In the United States, the dry storage method for spent nuclear fuels has been operated for an extended period. Based on the corrosion experiences of dry storage canisters in chloride environments, numerous studies have been conducted to reduce corrosion in welds. With the construction of intermediate storage facilities in Korea for spent nuclear fuels expected near coastal areas adjacent to nuclear power plants, there is a need for research on the corrosion occurrence of welds and mitigation methods for canisters in chloride environments. In this paper, we measured and compared the residual stresses in the Heat-Affected Zones (HAZ) after electron beam welding (EBW) and gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW) processes for candidate materials such as 304L, 316L, and duplex stainless steel(DSS). We investigated the possibility of microstructure control through the application of surface modification processes using friction stir processing (FSP). Corrosion tests on each welded specimen revealed a higher corrosion rate in EBW welds compared to GTAW. Furthermore, it was confirmed that corrosion resistance improved due to phase refinement and redistribution of precipitates when FSP was applied.