• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.103-111
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• 1993

Recently, several high-tensile steels(e.g. 80kg and above, $2^{1/4}Cr$-1Mo)having good quality to high temperature and pressure-resistance are widely used to construct petroleum-plant and pressure vessel of heat or nuclear-power plant. However, in the steels, reheating crack at grain boundaries of the heat affected zone(HAZ) occures during post welding heat treatment(PWHT)to remove welding residual stress. In order to study theoretically the characteristics of reheating crack created by PWHT, the computer program of three-dimensional thermal-elasto-plasto-creep analysis based on finite element method are developed, and then the mechanical behavior(history of creep strain accumulation and stress relaxation, etc)of welded join in thick plate during PWTH is clarified by the numerical results.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.48 no.3
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• pp.194-202
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• 2010

Application of a stronger and more durable material for reactor pressure vessels (RPVs) might be an effective way to insure the integrity and increase the efficiency of nuclear power plants. A series of research projects to apply the SA508 Gr.4 steel in ASME code to RPVs are in progress because of its excellent strength and durability compared to commercial RPV steel (SA508 Gr.3 steel). In this study, the microstructural characteristics and mechanical properties of SA508 Gr.3 Mn-Mo-Ni low alloy steel and SA508 Gr.4N Ni-Mo-Cr low alloy steel were investigated. The differences in the stable phases between these two low alloy steels were evaluated by means of a thermodynamic calculation using ThermoCalc. They were then compared to microstructural features and correlated with mechanical properties. Mn-Mo-Ni low alloy steel shows the upper bainite structure that has coarse cementite in the lath boundaries. However, Ni-Mo-Cr low alloy steel shows the mixture of lower bainite and tempered martensite structure that homogeneously precipitates the small carbides such as $M_{23}C_6$ and $M_7C_3$ due to an increase of hardenability and Cr addition. In the mechanical properties, Ni-Mo-Cr low alloy steel has higher strength and toughness than Mn-Mo-Ni low alloy steel. Ni and Cr additions increase the strength by solid solution hardening. In addition, microstructural changes from upper bainite to tempered martensite improve the strength of the low alloy steel by grain refining effect, and the changes in the precipitation behavior by Cr addition improve the ductile-brittle transition behavior along with a toughening effect of Ni addition.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.364-376
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• 1998

The statistical analysis method was applied to the evaluation of fracture toughness in the ductile-brittle transition temperature region. Because cleavage fracture in steel is of a statistical nature, fracture toughness data or values show a similar statistical trend. Using the three-parameter Weibull distribution, a fracture toughness vs. temperature curve (K-curve) was directly generated from a set of fracture toughness data at a selected temperature. Charpy V-notch impact energy was also used to obtain the K-curve by a $K_{IC}$ -CVN (Charpy V-notch energy) correlation. Furthermore, this method was applied to evaluate the neutron irradiation embrittlement of reactor pressure vessel (RPV) steel. Most of the fracture toughness data were within the 95% confidence limits. The prediction of a transition temperature shift by statistical analysis was compared with that from the experimental data.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.305-311
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• 2000

Applicability of crack arrest load measured from the Charpy V-notch impact test has been investigated to predict the fracture toughness of nuclear reactor pressure vessel (RPV) steels (ASME SA508 Cl.3). The temperature dependence of the crack arrest load was well described by the type of exponential function characterized by an index temperature at which the crack arrest load is 2kN. The specific index temperature, which also well correlated with $T_{NDT}\;and\;T_{41J}$ is expected to be representative index temperature characterizing the crack arrest fracture toughness of RPV steels. Also, the crack arrest load correlated well with the stable crack length measured from the fracture surface. From the measurements of the crack arrest load and the stable crack length, the lower bound fracture toughness, $K_{Ia}$ of RPV steels could be predicted with sufficient accuracy.

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 1998.05b
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• pp.336-343
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• 1998

An iteration method has been developed for determining crack growth and fracture resistance cure (J-R curve) from the load versus load-line displacement record only. In this method, the hardening curve, the load versus displacement curve at a given crack length, is assumed to be a power-law function, where the exponent varies with the crack length. The exponent is determined by an iterative calculation method with the assumption that the exponent varies linearly with the load-line displacement. The proposed method was applied to the static J-R tests using compact tension(CT) specimens, a three-point bend (TPB) specimen, and a cracked round bar (CRB) specimen as well as it was applied to the quasi-dynamic J-R tests using CT specimens. The J-R curves determined by the proposed method were compared with those obtained by the conventional testing methodologies. The results showed that the J-R curves could be determined directly by the proposed iteration method with sufficient accuracy in the specimens from SA508, SA533, and SA516 pressure vessel steels and SA312 Type 347 stainless steel.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.49 no.8
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• pp.628-634
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• 2011

SA508 Gr.4N Ni-Cr-Mo low alloy steel, in which Ni and Cr contents are higher than in commercial SA508 Gr.3 Mn-Mo-Ni low alloy steels, may be a candidate reactor pressure vessel (RPV) material with higher strength and toughness from its tempered martensitic microstructure. The inner surface of the RPV is weld-cladded with stainless steels to prevent corrosion. The goal of this study is to evaluate the microstructural properties of the clad interface between Ni-Cr-Mo low alloy steel and stainless weldment, and the effects of post weld heat treatment (PWHT) on the properties. The properties of the clad interface were compared with those of commercial Mn-Mo-Ni low alloy steel. Multi-layer welding of model alloys with ER308L and ER309L stainless steel by the SAW method was performed, and then PWHT was conducted at $610^{\circ}C$ for 30 h. The microstructural changes of the clad interface were analyzed using OM, SEM and TEM, and micro-Vickers hardness tests were performed. Before PWHT, the heat affected zone (HAZ) showed higher hardness than base and weld metals due to formation of martensite after welding in both steels. In addition, the hardness of the HAZ in Ni-Cr-Mo low alloy steel was higher than that in Mn-Mo-Ni low alloy steel due to a comparatively high martensite fraction. The hardness of the HAZ decreased after PWHT in both steels, but the dark region was formed near the fusion line in which the hardness was locally high. In the case of Mn-Mo-Ni low alloy steel, formation of fine Cr-carbides in the weld region near the fusion line by diffusion of C from the base metal resulted in locally high hardness in the dark region. However, the precipitates of the region in the Ni-Cr-Mo low alloy steel were similar to that in the base metal, and the hardness in the region was not greatly different from that in the base metal.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.52 no.6
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• pp.1222-1230
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• 2020

The corrosion rates of the reactor pressure vessel materials of SA508 Grade 3 were measured using a weight loss method in aerated boric acid solutions to simulate the evaporation of leaked PWR primary water in an ambient environment. The corrosion behavior and products were examined using X-ray diffraction and electron microscopy. SA508 showed typical general corrosion characteristics. The corrosion rate increased steadily as the boron concentration was increased. As the immersion time elapsed, the corrosion rate slowly or rapidly decreased according to the oxidation reaction of iron. The corrosion rate showed a complicated pattern depending on the temperature; it increased gradually and then rapidly decreased again when reaching a certain transition temperature. The corrosion products of SA508 were found to be FeO(OH), Fe₂O₃, and Fe₃O₄. As the boron concentration decreased and the temperature was increased, the formation of Fe₃O₄ was more favorable as compared to the formation of FeO(OH) and Fe₂O₃. Consequently, the changes of the corrosion rate and behavior were closely related to the oxidation reaction of iron on the surface. The corrosive damage to SA508 appears to be most severe when the oxidation reaction is such that Fe₂O₃ forms as a corrosion product.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.142-147
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• 2005

The embrittlement of fast neutron-irradiated reactor pressure vessel (RPV) steels was investigated by X-ray diffraction patterns at room temperature and $M\ddot{o}ssbauer$ spectroscopy at room- and liquid nitrogen-temperature. Neutron fluence on the samples were $10^{12},\;10^{13},\;10^{14},\;10^{15},\;10^{16},\;10^{17},\;10^{18}\;n/cm^2$. The X-ray diffraction patterns showed that the structure of the neutron unirradiated sample was bcc type, where as but the neutron irradiated samples with the fluence higher than $10^{17}\;n/{\cal}cm^2$ were so severely damaged, that bcc type structure disappeared. The $M\ddot{o}ssbauer$ spectra of all samples showed superposition of two or more sextets. In this paper all $M\ddot{o}ssbauer$ spectra were fitted by three set of sextet. The isomer shift and quadrupole splitting values were found around zero. At liquid nitrogen temperature, magnetic hyperfine field and absorption area increase rapidly S 1 sextet in the samples of $10^{17}\~10^{18}\;n/{\cal}cm^2$ neutron fluences. And at room temperature, magnetic hyperfine field and absorption increased rapidly at SI sextet in the samples of $10^{17}\~10^{18}\;n/{\cal}cm^2$ neutron fluences. This rapid increase of magnetic hyperfine field and absorption area were inferred to be caused by the change of $^{56}Fe,\;^{55}Mn$ into $^{57}Fe$ due to by neutron irradiation.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.93-103
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• 1997

Charpy V-notch impact tests were performed on the full-, half-and third-size specimens from two ferritic SA 508 Cl. 3 steels for nuclear pressure vessel. New normalization factors were proposed to predict the upper shelf energy(USE) and the ductile-brittle transition temperature(DBTT) of full-size specimens from the measured data on sub-size specimens. The factors for the USE and the DBTT are $(Bb^2/Kt); and; (Bb/R)^1/2/, $ respectively, where B the width, b the ligament size, $K_{t}$ the elastic stress concentration factor, and R the notch root radius. These correlations successfully estimated the USE and DBTT of the full-size specimens based on sub-size specimen data. In addition, the size effects were studied to develop the correlations among absorbed energy, lateral expansion(LE) and displacement. It was also found that the LE was able to be estimated from the displacement obtained by the instrumented impact test, and that the displacement would be used as a criterion for the toughness of the steels corresponding to change in their yield strength.h.