• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2004.11a
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• pp.118-123
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• 2004

Cast austenitic stainless steel have been widely used for primary coolant piping in light water reactors. This material is subject to thermal embrittlement at reactor operating temperature. CF-8M and CF-8A cast austenitic stainless steel is used for several components, such as primary coolant piping, elbow, pump casing, and valve bodies in light water reactors. Thermal embrittlement results in spinodal decomposition of delta-ferrite leading to decreased fracture toughness. In this study, the specimens were prepared using an accelerated aging method. The measurement of ferrite content, Charpy impact test and J-R test were performed to verify the predicting equation for aged material properties. In case of above 25% ferrite content, predicted result of J-R curve might be non-conservative.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2003.04a
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• pp.131-136
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• 2003

CF8M 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. In this study, three kinds of the aged CF8M specimen were prepared using an artificially simulated aging method. The objective of this study is to summarize the method of estimating ferrite contents, Charpy impact energy and J-R curve, and to evaluate the thermal embrittlement of the CF8M cast austenitic stainless steel piping used in the domestic nuclear power plants.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.11-16
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• 2014

The effects of environment and microstructure on low cycle fatigue (LCF) behaviors of CF8M stainless steels containing 11% of ferrites were investigated in a $310^{\circ}C$ deoxygenated water environment. The reduction of LCF life of CF8M in a $310^{\circ}C$ deoxygenated water was smaller than 316LN stainless steels. Based on the microstructure and fatigue surface analyses, it was confirmed that the hydrogen induced cracking contributed to the reduction in LCF life for CF8M as well as for 316LN. However, many secondary cracks were found on the boundaries of ferrite phases in CF8M, which effectively reduced the stress concentration at the crack tip. Because of the reduced stress concentration, the accelerated fatigue crack growth by hydrogen induced cracking was less significant, which resulted in the smaller environmental effects for CF8M than 316LN in a $310^{\circ}C$ deoxygenated water.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.30 no.10 s.253
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• pp.1173-1178
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• 2006

In a primary reactor cooling system(RCS), a dissimilar weld zone exists between cast stainless steel(CF8M) in a pipe and low-alloy steel(SA508 cl.3) in a nozzle. Thermal aging is observed in CF8M as the RCS is exposed for a long period of time to a reactor operating temperature between 290 and $330^{\circ}C$, while no effect is observed in SA508 cl.3. The specimens are prepared by an artificially accelerated aging technique maintained for 300, 1800 and 3600 hrs at $430^{\circ}C$, respectively. The specimens for elastic-plastic fracture toughness tests are according to the process in the thermal notch is created in the heat affected zone(HAZ) of CF8M and deposited zone. From the experiments, the $J_{IC}$ value notched in HAZ of CF8M presented a rapid decrease up to 300 hours at $430^{\circ}C$ and slowly decreased according to the process in the thermal aging time. Also, the $J_{IC}$ value presented a lower value than that of the CF8M base metal. And, the $J_{IC}$ of the deposited zone presented the lowest value of all other cases.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.83-88
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• 2011

To define the effect of strain rate variation from 0.04% to 0.004%/s on environmental fatigue of CF8M cast stainless steel, which is used as a primary piping material in nuclear power plants, low-cycle fatigue tests were conducted at operating pressure and temperature condition of a pressurized water reactor, 15 MPa and $315^{\circ}C$, respectively. A high-pressure and high-temperature autoclave and cylindrical solid fatigue specimens were used for the strain-controlled low-cycle environmental fatigue tests. It was observed that the fatigue life of CF8M stainless steel is shortened as the strain rate decreases. Due to the effect of test temperature, the fatigue data of NUREG-6909 appears a slightly shorter than that obtained by KEPRI at the same stress amplitude of $1{\times}10^3$ MPa. The environmental fatigue correction factor $F_{en}$'s calculated with inputs of the test data increases with high strain amplitude, while the $F_{en}$'s of NUREG-6909 remain constant regardless of strain amplitude.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.23 no.11 s.170
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• pp.2014-2021
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• 1999

The present investigation is concerned with the degradation characteristics of cast stainless steel(CF8M), exposed to the $\sigma$-phase degradation at $700^{\circ}C$. In the present paper, the degradation of CF8 M at $700^{\circ}C$ is evaluated by a non-destructive test, DL-EPR(double loop electrochemical potentiokinetic reactivation). The surface of specimens is observed by using scanning electron microscopy after DL-EPR test. Also. chromium contents of matrix, grain boundary and ferrite phase are analyzed by electron probe X-ray micro analyzer. Through the experiments, the following results are obtained 1) The degree of sensitization(DOS) of CF8M aged up to 15hr at $700^{\circ}C$ is increased with acing time while that is decreased with aging time from 15hr to 150hr. 2) The impact energy decreases with increase of $\sigma$-phase while DOS increases with $\sigma$-phase until aging time reaches to 15hr. After the aging time. 15hr, the $\sigma$-phase and the rate of impact energy with respect to aging time decreases. Therefore the degradation behavior of the CF8M can be evaluated by comparing SEM micrographs and the value of DOS.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.36 no.7
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• pp.769-776
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• 2012

The damage analysis method in this paper needs a material property and failure criteria. The material properties and the failure criteria could be easily obtained from the results of notched bar tensile tests carried out on other materials studied previously. However, for the cast stainless steel (CF8M) material in this paper, because of the variance in the results from notched bar tensile tests under the same conditions, the material property and the failure criteria could be obtained differently, depending on the analyzer. Therefore, a proper procedure that can confirm the material property and failure criteria are needed. In this work, the averaged material property was obtained from the notched bar with a 16-mm notch radius, and three failure criteria for CF8M material by finite element analysis were obtained. Applying the material property and the failure criteria, FE damage analysis for the J-R fracture toughness test was conducted. For validation, the simulated results were compared with the experimental results.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2007.05a
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• pp.17-22
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• 2007

Low-cycle environmental fatigue tests of cast austenitic stainless steel CF8M at the condition of fatigue strain rate 0.04%/sec were conducted at the pressure and temperature, 15MPa, $315^{\circ}C$ of a operating pressurized water reactor. The used test rig was limited to install an extensometer at the gauge length of the cylindrical fatigue specimen inside the small autoclave. So the magnet type LVDT's were used to measure the fatigue displacement at the specimen shoulders inside the high temperature and high pressure water autoclave. However, the displacement and strain measured at the specimen shoulders is different from the one at the gauge length for the geometry and the cyclic strain hardening effect. FEM calculated the displacement and the strain of the gauge length from the data measured at the shoulders. Tensile test properties in elastic and plastic behavior of CF8M material were used in the FEM analysis. A series of low cycle fatigue tests simulating the cyclic strain hardening effect verified that the FEM calculation was well agreed with the simulated tests. The process and method developed in this study would be so useful to produce reliable environmental fatigue curves of CF8M stainless steel in pressurized water reactors.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.28 no.12
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• pp.1968-1973
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• 2004

Structural degradations are often experienced on the components of nuclear power plants in reactor pressure vessels (RPV) and steam generators (SG) when these components are exposed to high temperature and high pressure for a long period of time. Such conditions result in the change of microstructures and of mechanical properties of materials, which requires an evaluation of the safeguards related to structural integrity. In a primary reactor cooling system (RCS), a dissimilar weld zone exists between cast stainless steel (CF8M) in a pipe and low-alloy steel (SA508 cl.3) in a nozzle. Thermal aging is observed in CF8M as the RCS is exposed for a long period of time under the operating temperature between 290 and 33$0^{\circ}C$. Under the same conditions, it is well known that degradation is not observed in low alloy steel. An investigation of the effect of thermal aging on the various mechanical properties of the dissimilar weld zone is required. The purpose of the present investigation is to find the effect of thermal aging on the dissimilar weld zone. The specimens are prepared by an artificially accelerated aging technique maintained for various times at 43$0^{\circ}C$, respectively. Then, The various mechanical test for the dissimilar welds are performed.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.177-185
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• 2008

Low-cycle environmental fatigue tests of cast austenitic stainless steel CF8M at the condition of fatigue strain rate 0.04%/sec were conducted at the pressure and temperature, 15MPa, $315^{\circ}C$ of a operating pressurized water reactor (PWR). The used test rig was limited to install an extensometer at the gauge length of the cylindrical fatigue specimen inside a small autoclave. So the magnet type LVDT#s were used to measure the fatigue displacement at the specimen shoulders inside the high temperature and high pressure water autoclave. However, the displacement and strain measured at the specimen shoulders is different from the one at the gauge length for the geometry and the cyclic strain hardening effect. Displacement of the fatigue specimen gauge length calculated by FEM (finite element method) used to modify the measured displacement and fatigue life at the shoulders. A series of low cycle fatigue life tests in air and PWR conditions simulating the cyclic strain hardening effect verified that the FEM modified fatigue life was well agreed with the simulating test results. The process and method developed in this study for the environmental fatigue test inside the small sized autoclave would be so useful to produce reliable environmental fatigue curves of CF8M stainless steel in pressurized water reactors.