• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제56권8호
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• pp.3180-3187
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• 2024

Rupture disk corrosion test (RDCT) method has been recently developed for real-time measurement of initiation of stress corrosion cracking (SCC) in a high-temperature water. This work presents a parametric study on the stress distribution of a thin disk specimen of RDCT to consider the fixture shape and friction using finite element analysis (FEA). The FEA results showed a dome-shaped deformation of the specimen. From the stress analysis as a function of friction coefficient, it was suggested that the maximum stress was applied around the dome-edge, which was invariant with change to the friction coefficient. This indicates that friction between the fixture and the specimen has little effect on stress distribution. On the other hand, the stress analysis as a function of a rounded-corner radius (Rc) revealed the location at which the maximum stress was applied shifted from the dome edge to the dome center as Rc increased. From SCC initiation tests using the RDCT apparatus in a primary water environment, it was found that SCC initiates at the dome edge when Rc is 0.5 mm, while SCC initiates near the disk center when Rc is 2.0 mm. This experimental result is in good agreement with the results of FEA.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제54권12호
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• pp.4481-4490
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• 2022

In this study, a new rupture disk corrosion test (RDCT) method was developed for real-time detection of stress corrosion cracking (SCC) initiation of Alloy 600 in a primary water environment of pressurized water reactors. In the RDCT method, one side of a disk specimen was exposed to a simulated primary water at high temperature and pressure while the other side was maintained at ambient pressure, inducing a dome-shaped deformation and tensile stress on the specimen. When SCC occurs in the primary water environment, it leads to the specimen rupture or water leakage through the specimen, which can be detected in real-time using a pressure gauge. The tensile stress applied to the disk specimen was calculated using a finite element analysis. The tensile stress was calculated to increase as the specimen thickness decreased. The SCC initiation time of the specimen was evaluated by the RDCT method, from which result it was found that the crack initiation time decreased with the decrease of specimen thickness owing to the increase of applied stress. After the SCC initiation test, many cracks were observed on the specimen surface in an intergranular fracture mode, which is a typical characteristic of SCC in the primary water environment.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• 제22권1호
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• pp.44-54
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• 2023

The rupture disk corrosion test (RDCT) method was recently developed to evaluate stress corrosion cracking (SCC) and was found to have great potential for the real-time detection of SCC initiation in a high temperature and pressure environment, simulating the primary water coolant of pressurized water reactors. However, it is difficult to directly measure the stress applied to a disk specimen, which is an essential factor in SCC initiation. In this work, finite element analysis (FEA) was performed using ABAQUS^TM to calculate the stress and deformation of a disk specimen. To determine the best mesh design for a thin disk specimen, hexahedron, hex-dominated, and tetrahedron models were used in FEA. All models revealed similar dome-shaped deformation behavior of the disk specimen. However, there was a considerable difference in stress distribution in the disk specimens. In the hex-dominated model, the applied stress was calculated to be the maximum at the dome center, whereas the stress was calculated to be the maximum at the dome edge in the hexahedron and tetrahedron models. From a comparison of the FEA results with deformation behavior and SCC location on the disk specimen after RDCT, the most proper FE model was found to be the tetrahedron model.