• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2004.04a
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• pp.96-101
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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 embrittlement at the reactor operating temperature. The objective of this study is to summarize the method of estimating ferrite content, Charpy impact energy and J-R curve and to evaluate the thermal embrittlement of the cast austenitic stainless steel piping used in the domestic nuclear power plants. The result of evaluation, two domestic nuclear power plants used CF-8M and CF-8A material has adequate fracture toughness after saturation.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.26 no.9
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• pp.1897-1904
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• 2002

Monotonic torsional and pure torsional low cycle fatigue(LCF) test with artificial degradation were performed on duplex stainless steel(CF8M). CF8M is used in pipes and valves in nuclear reactor coolant system. It was aged at 430$^{\circ}C$ for 3600hrs. Through the monotonic and LCF test, it is found that mechanical properties(i.e., yield strength, strain hardening exponent, strength coefficient etc.) increase and fatigue life(N$\sub$f/) decreases with degradation of material. The relationship between shear strain amplitude(${\gamma}$$\sub$a/)and N$\sub$f/ was proposed.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2004.04a
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• pp.72-77
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• 2004

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 prepared one type, which notch is created in the heat affected zone(HAZ) of CF8M. And, the specimens for fatigue crack growth tests are prepared in three classes, which notches are created at the center of deposited zone, the HAZ of CF8M, and the HAZ of SA508 cl.3. From the experiments, the J-integral values with the increase of aging time decrease, and the differences of the fatigue crack growth behaviors are relatively small in the three classes specimens.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.24 no.9 s.180
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• pp.2183-2190
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• 2000

A thermal aging is observed in a primary reactor cooling system(RCS) made of a casting stainless steel when the RCS is exposed for long period at the reactor operating temperature, 290~3300C An investigation of effects of thermal aging on a low cycle fatigue characteristics included a stress variations caused by a reactor operation and trip, is required. The purpose of the present investigation is to find an effect of a thermal aging of the CF8M on a low cycle fatigue life. The specimen of CF8M are prepared by an artificially accelerated aging technique holding 300 and 1800hr at 4300C respectively. The low cycle fatigue tests for the virgin and two aged specimens are performed at the room temperature for various strain amplitudes($\varepsilon$ta), 0.3, 0.5, 0.8, 1.0, 1.2 and 1.5% strain. Through the experiment, it is found that the fatigue life is rapidly reduced with an creasing of the aging time. The experimental fatigue life estimation formulas between the virgin and two aged specimen are obtained and are proposed to a analysis purpose.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.609-616
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• 1998

Cast duplex stainless steels are extensively used for primary pressure boundary components. These components are, however, embrittled due to the precipitation of $\alpha$' phase by spinodal decomposition and other processes when exposed to reactor operating temperature for a design lifetime or life extension conditions. This report presents a procedure for estimating the current condition and the residual life of safety-related stainless steel components by using ANL database and correlations. The database of Charpy impact energy suggests that CF-8M grade is the most susceptible to thermal aging and CF-3 grade is the least. Thus, the integrity of CF-8M alleys may be degraded seriously and the degree of deterioration may exceed acceptance limit after several years of service in the nuclear reactors.

• 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.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.24 no.10 s.181
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• pp.2405-2412
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• 2000

A cast stainless steel may experience an embrittlement when it is exposed to approximately 30$0^{\circ}C$ for long period. In the present investigation, The three classes of the thermally aged CF8M specimie n are prepared using an artificially accelerated aging method. Namely, after the specimen are held for 300, 1800 and 3600hrs. at 43$0^{\circ}C$ respectively, the specimens are quenched in water to room temperature. Load versus load line displacement curves and J-R curves are obtained using the unloading compliance method. $J_{IC}$ values are obtained following ASTM E 813-87 and ASTM E 813-81 methods. In addition to these methods, JIC values are obtained using SZW(stretch zone width) method described in JSME S 001-1981. The results of the unloading compliance method are $J_Q$=485.7 kJ/m$^2$ for virgin material, $J_{IC}$ of the degraded materials associated with 300, 1800 and 3600hrs are obtained 369.25 kJ/m$^2$, 311.02 kJ/m$^2$, 276.7 kJ/m$^2$, respectively. The results of SZW method are similar to those of the unloading compliance method. Through the elastic-plastic fracture toughness test, it is found that the value of $J_{IC}$ is decreased with increasing of the aging time. The results obtained through the investigation can provide reference data for a leak before break(LBB) of reactor coolant system of nuclear power plants.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.24 no.8 s.179
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• pp.1910-1916
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• 2000

The five classes of the thermally aged CF8M specimen are prepared using an artificially accelerated aging method. Namely, after the specimens are held for 100, 300, 900, 1800, and 3600hrs at 430$^{\circ}C$ respectively, the specimens are water-cooled to room temperature. The impact energy variations are measures for both the aged and virgin specimens through the Charpy impact tests in addition to the microstructure observation, tensile, hardness and fatigue crack growth tests. From the present investigation the following results are obtained : 1) The difference among the thermally degraded specimens can be distinguished through their microstructures, 2) Hardness and tensile strength are increased to 300hrs, degradation specimen, while elongation and reduction area are decreased to 3600hrs degradation specimen, and impact energy is decreased to 1800hrs degradation specimen, 3) The FCG rates for thermally degraded specimens are larger than that of the virgin specimen.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2004.04a
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• pp.78-83
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• 2004

Environmental fatigue crack propagation of CF8M and CF8A steels used in the domestic PWR were investigated on the simulated PWR condition(Temperature: $316^{\circ}C$, Pressure: 15MPa). The test equipment for environmental fatigue(high temperature-high pressure loop, autoclave, load frame, measurement system) were designed. As-received and 60-year aged specimens were used in the test. To compare with environmental fatigue test, another test was performed in the air condition. The fracture surface of specimens were difficult to verify the fracture modes such as striation, intergranular crack and cleavage and so on. As the ferrite content of CF8M is increased, more particles covered fracture surface were peeled.

• Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology
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• v.16 no.7
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• pp.902-910
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• 2002

Cast stainless steel may experience embrittlement when it is exposed approximately to 300$\^{C}$ for a long period. In the present investigation, the three classes of the thermally-aged CF8M specimen were prepared using an artificially-accelerated aging method. After the specimens were held for 300, 1800 and 3600hrs. at 430$\^{C}$, respectively, the specimens were quenched in water which is at room temperature. Load versus load line displacement curves and J-R curves were obtained using the unloading compliance method. talc values were obtained using the ASTM E813-87 and ASTM E 813-81 methods. In addition to these methods, talc values were obtained using the SZW (stretch zone width) method described in JSME S 001-1981. The results of the unloading compliance method are J$\_$Q/=543.9kJ/㎡ for virgin materials. The values of J$\_$IC/ for the degraded materials at 300, 1800 and 3600hrs. are obtained 369.25kJ/㎡, 311.02kJ/㎡, 276.7kJ/㎡, respectively. The results obtained by the SZW method are compared with those obtained by the unloading compliance method. Both results are quite similar. Through the elastic-plastic fracture toughness test, it is found that the value of loc is decreased with an increase of the aging time.