• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.52 no.3
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• pp.621-625
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• 2020

Cast austenitic stainless steel (CASS) is used for fabricating different components of the primary reactor coolant system of pressurized water reactors. However, the thermal embrittlement of CASS resulting from long-term operation causes structural safety problems. Ultrasonic testing for flaw detection has been used to assess the thermal embrittlement of CASS; however, the high scattering and attenuation of the ultrasonic wave propagating through CASS make it difficult to accurately quantify the flaw size. In this paper, we present a different approach for evaluating the thermal embrittlement of CASS by assessing changes in the material properties of CASS using a nonlinear ultrasonic technique, which is a potential nondestructive method. For the evaluation, we prepared CF8M specimens that were thermally aged under four different heating conditions. Nonlinear ultrasonic measurements were performed using a contact piezoelectric method to obtain the relative ultrasonic nonlinearity parameter, and a mini-sized tensile test was performed to investigate the correlation of the parameter with material properties. Experimental results showed that the ultrasonic nonlinearity parameter had a correlation with tensile properties such as the tensile strength and elongation. Consequently, we could confirm the applicability of the nonlinear ultrasonic technique to the evaluation of the thermal embrittlement of CASS.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.49 no.5
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• pp.1109-1112
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• 2017

The precise prediction of radiation embrittlement of aged reactor pressure vessels (RPVs) is a prerequisite for the long-term operation of nuclear power plants beyond their original design life. The expiration of the operation licenses for Korean reactors the RPVs of which are made from SA533B-1 plates and welds is imminent. Korean regulatory rules have adopted the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission's transition temperature shift (TTS) models to the prediction of the embrittlement of Korean reactor pressure vessels. The applicability of the TTS model to predict the embrittlement of Korean RPVs made of SA533B-1 plates and welds was investigated in this study. It was concluded that the TTS model of 10 CFR 50.61a matched the trends of the radiation embrittlement in the SA533B-1 plates and welds better than did that of Regulatory Guide (RG) 1.99 Rev. 2. This is attributed to the fact that the prediction performance of 10 CFR 50.61a was enhanced by considering the difference in radiation embrittlement sensitivity among the different types of RPV materials.

• Transactions of Materials Processing
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.185-192
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• 2024

This study examined how varying tempering temperatures affect the susceptibility of Cr-Mo low alloy steels to hydrogen embrittlement. A slow strain-rate test (SSRT) was carried out on the steels electrochemically pre-charged with hydrogen in order to examine the hydrogen embrittlement behavior. The results showed that the hydrogen embrittlement resistance of the Cr-Mo low alloy steels improved with increasing tempering temperature. Thermal desorption analysis (TDA) revealed that diffusible hydrogen content decreased with increasing tempering temperature, accompanied by a slight increase in the peak temperature. This decrease in hydrogen content was likely due to a reduction in dislocation density which served as reversible hydrogen trap sites. These findings underline the significant role of tempering temperature in enhancing the hydrogen embrittlement resistance of Cr-Mo low alloy steels.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.1174-1179
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• 2003

Cast austenitic stainless steel is used for several components, such as primary coolant piping, elbow, pump casing and valve bodies in light water reactors. These components are subject to thermal aging at the reactor operating temperature. Thermal aging results in spinodal decomposition of the delta-ferrite leading to increased strength and decreased toughness. This study shows that ferrite content can be predicted by use of the artificial neural network. The neural network has trained learning data of chemical components and ferrite contents using backpropagation learning process. The predicted results of the ferrite content using trained neural network are in good agreement with experimental ones.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.460-466
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• 2004

Cast austenitic stainless steel is used for several components, such as primary coolant piping, elbow, pump casing and valve bodies in light water reactors. These components are subject to thermal aging at the reactor operating temperature. Thermal aging results in spinodal decomposition of the delta-ferrite leading to increased strength and decreased toughness. This study shows that ferrite content can be predicted by use of the artificial neural network. The neural network has trained teaming data of chemical components and ferrite contents using backpropagation learning process. The predicted results of the ferrite content using trained neural network are in good agreement with experimental ones.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.277-294
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• 2013

In the early 1980s, attention focused on the possibility that pressurized thermal shock (PTS) events could challenge the integrity of a nuclear reactor pressure vessel (RPV) because operational experience suggested that overcooling events, while not common, did occur, and because the results of in-reactor materials surveillance programs showed that RPV steels and welds, particularly those having high copper content, experience a loss of toughness with time due to neutron irradiation embrittlement. These recognitions motivated analysis of PTS and the development of toughness limits for safe operation. It is now widely recognized that state of knowledge and data limitations from this time necessitated conservative treatment of several key parameters and models used in the probabilistic calculations that provided the technical of the PTS Rule, 10 CFR 50.61. To remove the unnecessary burden imposed by these conservatisms, and to improve the NRC's efficiency in processing exemption and license exemption requests, the NRC undertook the PTS re-evaluation project. This paper provides a synopsis of the results of that project, and the resulting Alternate PTS rule, 10 CFR 50.61a.

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 2005.05a
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• pp.471-472
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• 2005

After thermal aging treatment at 693 K for 322 hours, any discernable precipitation could not be found in the $13{\sim}22$ Cr ODS steels, but showing an increase in SP-DBTT and reduction in upper shelf energy. The degree of aging embrittlement increases with Cr content such that the increases in SP-DBTT are 10, 50 and 73 K in 13, 16 and 19 Cr ODS steel, respectively. Amount of hardening also increased linearly as a function of Cr content. Based on the TEM observation, the origin of hardening must be related to the invisibly fine size of Cr-rich ${\acute{\alpha}}-phase$ (<1 nm).

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 2004.10a
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• pp.1299-1300
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• 2004

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 2005.10a
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• pp.993-994
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• 2005

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.112-118
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• 2013

In this study, constant loading test (CLT) was performed to evaluate the hydrogen embrittlement resistance for multipass FCA weld metals of 600MPa tensile strength grade. The microstructures of weld metal-2 having the smallest carbon equivalent (Ceq=0.37) consisted of grain boundary ferrite and widmanstatten ferrite in the acicular ferrite matrix. The weld metal-1 having the largest Ceq=0.47, showed the microstructures of grain boundary ferrite, widmanstatten ferrite and the large amount of bainite (vol.%=19%) in the acicular ferrite matrix. The weld metal-3 having the Ceq=0.41, which was composed of grain boundary ferrite, widmanstatten ferrite, and the small amount of bainite (vol.%=9%) in the acicular ferrite matrix. Hydrogen desorption spectrometry (TDS) used to analyze the amount of diffusible hydrogen and trapping site for the hydrogen pre-charged specimens electrochemically for 24 hours. With increasing the current density of hydrogen pre-charging, the released amount of diffusible hydrogen was increased. Furthermore, as increasing carbon equivalent of weld metals, the released diffusible hydrogen was increased. The main trapping sites of diffusible hydrogen for the weld metal having a low carbon equivalent (Ceq=0.37) were grain boundaries and those of weld metals having a relatively high carbon equivalent (Ceq: 0.41~0.47) were grain boundaries and dislocation. The fracture time for the hydrogen pre-charged specimens in the constant loading test was decreased as the carbon equivalent increased from 0.37 to 0.47. This result is mainly due to the increment of bainite that is vulnerable to hydrogen embrittlement.