• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.37 no.9
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• pp.1159-1168
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• 2013

In pressurized water nuclear reactors (PWRs), the reactor pressure vessel (RPV) upper head contains penetration nozzles that use a control rod drive mechanism (CRDM). The penetration nozzle uses J-groove weld geometry. Recently, the occurrence of cracking in alloy 600 CRDM penetration nozzle has increased. This is attributable to primary water stress corrosion cracking (PWSCC). PWSCC is known to be susceptible to the welding residual stress and operational stress. Generally, the tensile residual stress is the main factor contributing to crack growth. Therefore, this study investigates the effect on weld residual stress through different analysis methods for normal operating conditions using finite element analysis. In addition, this study also considers the effect of repeated normal operating condition cycles on the weld residual stress. Based on the analysis result, this paper presents a normal operating condition analysis method.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.35-40
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• 2015

Characterization of microstructures and mechanical properties of 83mm thickness EH36-TM welds produced by the combined flux cored arc (FCA) and electro gas (EG) welding processes has been studied with the two different groove conditions, single-V (SV) and double-V (DV) bevels. The welding consumables used for FCA and EG welding processes were ASME/AWS A5.29 (E81T1-K2) and A5.26 (EG72T), respectively. Experimental results showed that all the mechanical properties of welds such as tensile property, CVN toughness and Vickers hardness met IACS requirements. The tensile strength of EG welded plates were reduced by approximately 4% (DV: 3.8%, SV: 4.2%) compared to the base metal. The hardness value of SV-beveled weld metal was slightly lower than that of DV-beveled one. There were no significant differences as per welding groove conditions except for the weld metal. In addition, at the fusion line, the toughness of SV condition was 20J lower and the weld metal was 40J lower than DV condition, respectively. On the basis of microstructural analysis, grain boundary ferrite (GBF) structures for SV condition were 2 times higher volume fraction than for DV condition and their packet sizes were coarsened to almost double. It was thus suggested that the GBF volume fractions and packet sizes in the weld metal of EH36-TM steel plates are the most important factors affecting the mechanical properties of the combined FCA and EG welded joint. Nevertheless, all the results of welds with both DV and SV conditions were found to be excellent.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2001.10a
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• pp.94.1-94
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• 2001

Arc sensor gives important groove information during welding. Automatic seam tracking control system with arc sensor has significant characteristics such that bead formation is given as decentralization of penetration and formation of concave bead profile and that a turning point of transverse weaving with constant arc length control is decided whether or not torch height reaches to a specified setting level. Furthermore, the rotating action of the arc prevents hanging of weld bead and forms flat bead surface under high speed welding condition. The variation of groove and deposition area can be detected from the trace of weaving. The area and width of weaving trace has close correlation with the area of groove and deposition. In this paper, main object of this system is to realize an adaptive microprocessor based controller ...

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.36 no.10
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• pp.1235-1239
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• 2012

Primary water stress corrosion cracking (PWSCC) has been observed around the weld region of control rod drive mechanism (CRDM) nozzles in nuclear power plants overseas. The weld has a J-shaped groove and it connects the CRDM nozzle with the reactor vessel upper head (RVUH). It is a dissimilar metal weld (DMW), because the CRDM is made of alloy 600 and the RVUH is made of carbon steel. In this study, finite element analysis (FEA) was performed to estimate the stress condition around the weld region. Generally, it is known that a high tensile region is more susceptible to PWSCC. FEA was performed as for the condition of welding, hydrostatic test and normal operation successively to observe how the residual stress changes due to plant condition. The FEA results show that a high tensile stress region is formed around the weld starting point on the inner surface and around the weld stop point on the outer surface.

• Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology
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• v.16 no.9
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• pp.1033-1039
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• 2002

Partial penetration welding joint refers to the groove weld that applies to the one side welding which does not use steel backing and to both side welding without back gouging, that is, the partial penetration welding joint leaves an unwelded portion at the root of the welding area. In this study, we analyzed the residual stress and fracture on the thick metal plates that introduced the partial penetration welding method. According to the above-mentioned welding method, we could draw a conclusion that longitudinal stress and traverse stress occurred around the welding area are so minimal and do not affect any influence. We also performed the fracture behavior evaluation on the partial penetration multi pass welding with 25.4 mm thick plate by using the J-integral, which finally led us the conclusion that the partial penetration multi-pass welding method is more applicable and effective in handling the root face with less than 6.35 mm.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2004.04a
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• pp.90-95
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• 2004

In this study, we proposed new method to mitigate tensile welding residual stress for preventing PWSCC in CRDM nozzle. Residual stress analysis using finite element method is performed to confirm benefit of the new method. In case of applying existing method, tensile axial residual stress decrease by about 28% and tensile hoop residual stress decrease by about 33%. In case of applying the new method, tensile axial residual stress decrease by about 32% and tensile hoop residual stress decrease by about 43%. Therefore, we conclude the new proposed method is more effective to prevent PWSCC than existing method.

• Proceedings of the KWS Conference
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• 2002.10a
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• pp.320-323
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• 2002

This paper presents a new generation of system for pressure vessel and shipbuilding. Typical pressure vessel and ship building weld joint preparations are either traditional V, butt, fillet grooves or have narrow or semi narrow gap profiles. The fillet and U groove are prevalently used in heavy industries and shipbuilding to melt and join the parts. Since the wall thickness can be up to 6" or greater, welds must be made in many layers, each layer containing several passes. However, the welding time for the conventional processes such as SAW(Submerged Arc Welding) and FCAW(Flux Cored Arc Welding) can be many hours. Although SAW and FCAW are normally a mechanized process, pressure vessel and ship structures welding up to now have usually been controlled by a full time operator. The operator has typically been responsible for positioning each individual weld run, for setting weld process parameters, for maintaining flux and wire levels, for removing slag and so on. The aim of the system is to develop a high speed welding system with multitorch for increasing the production speed on the line and to remove the need for the operator so that the system can run automatically for the complete multi-torch multi-layer weld. To achieve this, a laser vision sensor, a rotating torch and an image processing algorithm have been made. Also, the multitorch welding system can be applicable for the fine grained steel because of the high welding speed and lower heat input compare to a conventional welding process.

• International Journal of Korean Welding Society
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.58-62
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• 2001

The surface of AC8A Ah alloy was modified by adding the Cu powder using a Plasma Transferred Arc (PTA) welding process. Under the optimum fabricating conditions, the modified surface of AC8A Ah alloy was observed to possess the sound microstructure with a minimum porosity. Hardness and wear resistance properties of the as-fabricated alloy were compared with those of the 76 heat-treated one. In case of the as-fabricated alloy, the hardness of the modified layer was twice that of the matrix region. Although significant increase in the hardness of the matrix region was observed after T6 heat treatment, the hardness of the modified layer was not observed to change. The wear resistance of the modified layer was significantly increased compared to that of the matrix region. The microstructure of a weld zone and the matrix region were investigated using the optical microscope, scanning electron microscope (SEM), electron probe microanalysis (EPMA), and transmission electron microscope (TEM). The primary and eutectic silicon in the weld zone were finer and more curved than in the matrix region, while some precipitates has had been found therein. According to the TEM observation, the predominant precipitate present in the weld zone was the $\theta$'phase, which is precipitated during cooling by rapid solidification in PTA welding process. Improvement of hardness and wear properties in the weld zone in the as-fabricated condition can be explained based on the presence of $\theta$’precipitates and fine primary and eutectic silicon distribution.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.52 no.3
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• pp.589-596
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• 2020

Many components in the assembly section of Sodium-cooled Fast Reactor are made of good corrosionresistant 316 LN Stainless Steel material. To avoid self-welding of the components with the coolant sodium at elevated temperature, hardfacing is inevitable. Ni-based colmonoy-5 is used for hardfacing due to its lower dose rate by Plasma Transferred Arc process due to its low dilution. Since Ni-Cr-B-Si alloy becomes very fluidic while depositing, the major height of the weld overlay rests inside the groove. Hardfacing is also done over the plain surface where grooving is not possible. Therefore, grooved and ungrooved hardfaced specimens were prepared at different travel speeds. Fe content at every 100 ㎛ of the weld overlay was studied by Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy and also the micro hardness was determined at those locations. A correlation between iron dilution from the base metal and the micro hardness was established. Therefore, if the Fe content of the weld overlay is known, the hardness at that location can be obtained using the correlation and vice-versa. A new correlation between micro hardness and dilution coefficient is obtained at different locations. A comparative study between those specimens is carried out to recommend the optimum travel speed for lower dilution.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.44-52
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• 1987

The fracture toughness, $J_{IC}$ of high frequency electric resistance welded steel pipe for smooth and side-grooved CT specimen was evaluated by unloading compliance method. The crack growth, .${\delta}a$ was obtained from the equation of Donald and Saxena & Hudak, and $J_{IC}$ was determined from the curve of J-${\delta}a$ relations. The crack growth on the experiment using unloading compliance method is underestimated as compared with ${\delta}a$ measured directly by the SEM, so the reliability of $J_{IC}$ from saxena & Hudak equation is large than that from Donald. The $J_{IC}$ value of side-grooved CT Specimen is estimated less than that of smooth, and this is the effect of the side-groove, the shear-lip of crack tip and the reduction of crack tunnelling phenomena.