• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.56-65
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• 2024

Cast austenitic stainless steels (CASS) and austenitic stainless steel weldments with a ferrite-austenite duplex structure are widely used in nuclear power plants, incorporating ferrite phase to enhance strength, stress relief, and corrosion resistance. Thermal aging at 290-325℃ can induce embrittlement, primarily due to spinodal decomposition and G-phase precipitation in the ferrite phase. This study evaluates the effects of thermal aging by collecting and analyzing various mechanical properties, such as Charpy impact energy, ferrite microhardness, and tensile strength, from various literature sources. Different model expressions, including hyperbolic tangent and phase transformation equations, are applied to calculate activation energy (Q) of room-temperature impact energies, and the results are compared. Additionally, predictive models for Q based on material composition are evaluated, and the potential of machine learning techniques for improving prediction accuracy is explored. The study also examines the use of ferrite microhardness and tensile strength in calculating Q and assessing thermal embrittlement. The findings provide insights for developing advanced prediction models for the thermal embrittlement behavior of CASS and the weldments of austenitic steels, contributing to the safety and reliability of nuclear power plant components.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.410-418
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• 2004

The multiaxial fatigue test under in-phase and out-of$.$phase load were performed to study what degradation phenomenon affects fatigue life with virgin and 3600 hrs degraded materials. The various kind of fatigue data fur fatigue life prediction were acquired under pure axial and pure torsional load of fully reversal condition. The models which was investigated are: 1) the von Mises equivalent strain range, 2) the critical shear plane approach method of Fatemi-Socie(FS) parameter, 3) the modified Smith-Watson-Topper(SWT) parameter. The result showed that, fatigue life by material degradation are decreased and life prediction which was used the FS parameter is not conservative but the best result.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.4
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• pp.1167-1174
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• 2022

Cast austenitic stainless steels (CASSs) are widely used as structural materials in the nuclear industry. The main drawback of CASSs is the reduction in fracture toughness due to long-term exposure to operating environment. Even though ultrasonic non-destructive testing has been conducted in major nuclear components and pipes, the detection of cracks is difficult due to the scattering and attenuation of ultrasonic waves by the coarse grains and the inhomogeneity of CASS materials. In this study, the ultrasonic signals measured in thermally aged CASS were discriminated for the first time with the simple ultrasonic technique (UT) and machine learning (ML) models. Several different ML models, specifically the K-nearest neighbors (KNN), Support Vector Machine (SVM), and Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP) models, were used to classify the ultrasonic signals as thermal aging condition of CASS specimens. We identified that the ML models can predict the category of ultrasonic signals effectively according to the aging condition.

• Transactions of Materials Processing
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.165-170
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• 2013

High temperature deformation behavior of a heat-resistant duplex stainless steel, used as a retort in the Pidgeon process for Mg production, was investigated in this study. 25Cr-8Ni based duplex stainless steels were cast into rectangular ingots, with dimensions of $350mm{\times}350mm{\times}100mm$. Nitrogen and yttrium were added at 0.3wt.% each to enhance the heat-resistance of the steel. Phase equilibrium was calculated using the thermodynamic software FactSage$^{(R)}$ and the database of FSStel. For comparison, cast 310S steel, a widely used heat-resistant austenitic stainless steel, was also examined in this study. Dilatometry was conducted on the as-cast ingots for the temperature range from RT to $1200^{\circ}C$ and the thermal expansion coefficients were evaluated. The nitrogen addition was found to have an effect on the thermal expansion behavior for temperatures between 800 and $1000^{\circ}C$. High temperature tensile and compression tests were conducted on the ingots for temperatures ranging from 900 to $1230^{\circ}C$, which is the operation temperature employed in Mg production by the Silico-thermic reduction process. The steel containing both N and Y showed much higher strength as compared to 310S.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.2
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• pp.709-731
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• 2022

Loss of fracture resistance due to thermal aging degradation is a potential limiting factor affecting the long-term (80+ year) viability of nuclear reactors. To evaluate the effects of decades of aging in a practical time frame, accelerated aging must be employed prior to mechanical characterization. In this study, a variety of chemically and microstructurally diverse austenitic stainless steels were aged between 0 and 30,000 h at 290-400 ℃ to simulate 0-80+ years of operation. Over 600 static fracture tests were carried out between room temperature and 400 ℃. The results presented include selected J-R curves of each material as well as K_0.2mm fracture toughness values mapped against aging condition and ferrite content in order to display any trends related to those variables. Results regarding differences in processing, optimal ferrite content under light aging, and the relationship between test temperature and Mo content were observed. Overall, it was found that both the ferrite volume fraction and molybdenum content had significant effects on thermal degradation susceptibility. It was determined that materials with >25 vol% ferrite are unlikely to be viable for 80 years, particularly if they have high Mo contents (>2 wt%), while materials less than 15 vol% ferrite are viable regardless of Mo content.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.51 no.1
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• pp.207-213
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• 2019

Corrosion and mechanical behavior of the hot-rolled 0.5%Gd-0.8%B-stainless steel to develop a spent nuclear fuel storage material was studied in a simulated nuclear waste treatment condition with rolling condition. The austenite and ferrite phases of the 0.5%Gd-0.8%B-stainless steels are about 88:12. The average austenite and ferrite grain size of the plane normal to rolling, transverse and normal directions of the hot rolled specimens are about 5.08, 8.94, 19.35, 23.29, 26.00 and 18.11 [${\mu}m$], respectively. The average micro-hardness of the as-cast specimen is 200.4 Hv, whereas, that of the hot-rolled specimen are 220.1, 204.7 and 203.5 [$H_v$] for the plane normal to RD, TD and ND, respectively. The UTS, YS and elongation of the as-cast and the hot-rolled specimen are 699, 484 [MPa], 34.0%, and 654, 432 [MPa] and 33.3%, respectively. The passivity was observed both for the as-cast and the hot rolled specimens in a simulated nuclear waste solution. The corrosion potential and corrosion rate of the as-casted specimens are $-343[mV_{SHE}]$ and $3.26{\times}10^{-7}[A/cm^2]$, whereas, those of the hot rolled specimens with normal to ND, RD and TD are -630, -512 and -620 [$mV_{SHE}$] and $6.12{\times}10^{-7}$, $1.04{\times}10^{-6}$ and $6.92{\times}10^{-7}[A/cm^2]$, respectively. Corrosion tends to occur preferentially Cr and B rich area.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.164-168
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• 2016

Lean duplex stainless steels with 0.087 wt.% gadolinium (Gd) were inert arc-melted and cast in molds of size $10mm{\times}10mm{\times}20mm$. The micro-hardnesses of the rolling direction (RD), transverse direction (TD) and short transverse (ST) direction were $258.5H_V$, $292.3H_V$, and $314.7H_V$, respectively. A 33% cold rolled specimen had the crystallographic texture that (100) pole was mainly concentrated to the normal direction (ND) and (110) pole was concentrated in the center of ND and RD. The corrosion potential and corrosion rate in artificial seawater and $0.1M\;H_2SO_4$ solution were in the range of $105.6-221.6mV_{SHE}$, $0.59-1.06mA/cm^2$, and $4.75-8.25mV_{SHE}$, $0.69-1.68mA/cm^2$, respectively. The friction coefficient and wear loss of the 0.087 w/o Gd-lean duplex stainless steels in artificial seawater were about 67% and 65% lower than in air, whereas the wear efficiency was 22% higher. The corrosion and wear behaviors of the 0.087 w/o Gd-lean duplex stainless steels significantly depended on the Gd phases.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.45 no.7
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• pp.929-940
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• 2013

Environmental fatigue of the metallic components in light water reactors has been the subject of extensive research and regulatory interest in Korea and abroad. Especially, it was one of the key domestic issues for the license renewal of operating reactors and licensing of advanced reactors during the early 2000s. To deal with the environmental fatigue issue domestically, a systematic test program has been initiated and is still underway. The materials tested were SA508 Gr.1a low alloy steels, 316LN stainless steels, cast stainless steels, and an Alloy 690 and 52M weld. Through tests and subsequent analysis, the mechanisms of reduced low cycle fatigue life have been investigated for those alloys. In addition, the effects of temperature, dissolved oxygen level, and dissolved hydrogen level on low cycle fatigue behaviors have been investigated. In this paper, the test results and key analysis results are briefly summarized. Finally, an on-going test program for hot-bending of 347 stainless steel is introduced.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Heat Treatment
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.19-26
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• 1996

Melt-quenching of steels leads to various metallographic effects such as refinement of grain size, extension of the solid solubility of carbon and alloying elements, and is expected to improve the mechanical properties of conventional steels. Furthermore, this technique is a useful method for producing sheet directly from liquid state. And it will lend itself to development as a continuous cast process which offers significant savings in energy and product costs. The purpose of this study is to present the microstructures of melt-quenched austenitic stainless steels. As the results of this study, the morphology of melt-quenched microstructure show that the roll contact area is columnar structure, and the free surface area is dendrite structure. As the line speed increases, the ratio of $d_{colunnar}/d_{total}$ increases from 0.12 to 0.60, but the ribbon thickness decreases from $150{\mu}m$ to $30{\mu}m$.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.5 no.5
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• pp.181-188
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• 2006

In this study, the characteristics of the experimentally produced high N-high Cr bearing stainless steels are discussed as a part of applications of materials for FGD (Fuel Gas Desulfurization) system of thermal power plants or for power plants using seawater as coolant. Corrosion resistance of developed alloys is especially investigated in detail. Corrosion characteristics of vacuum melted cast are shown to be superior to that of air melted one. From the viewpoint of CPT, It is estimated that the differences of corrosion resistance are $21.8^{\circ}C{\sim}24.6^{\circ}C$ at PRE 40 and $8^{\circ}C{\sim}12.4^{\circ}C$ at PRE 50, and the gaps becomes bigger as the PRE values are lower. In the evaluation of corrosion resistance in alloy A2501, Z3101, and A3301 according to Cr concentration, alloy A3301 shows a deviation from the general tendency in chloride solutions. It has relatively high PRE value as 48.6, but it has relatively poor pitting resistance. It is, however, difficult to observe a specific phase except ferrite in microstructure analysis and neither detects special phase such as sigma phase.