An Analysis on Fatigue Fracture of Nuclear Pump Impeller Alloys by Ultrasonic Vibratory Cavitation Erosion

In this study, the fatigue properties on the cavitation damage of the flame quenched 8.8Al-bronze (8.8Al-4.5Ni-4.5Fe-Cu) as well as the current nuclear pump impeller materials (8.8Al-bronze, STS316 and SR50A) has been investigated using an ultrasonic vibratory cavitation test. For this the impact loads of cavitation bubbles generated by ultrasonic vibratory device quantitatively evaluated and simultaneously the cavitation erosion experiments have been carried out. The fatigue analysis on the cavitation damage of the materials has been made from the determined impact load distribution (e.g. impact load, bubble count) and erosion parameters (e.g. incubation period, MDPR). According to Miner's law, the determined exponents b of the F-N relation ($F^b$ N = Constant) at the incubation stage (N: the number of fracture cycle) were 5.62, 4.16, 6.25 and 8.1 for the 8.8Al-bronze, flame quenched one, STS316 and SR50A alloys. respectively. At the steady state period, the exponents b of the F-N' curve (N': the number of cycle required for $1{\mu}m$ increment of MDP) were determined as 6.32, 5, 7.14 and 7.76 for the 8.8Al-bronze, flame quenched one, STS316, and SR50A alloys, respectively.

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