• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.149-157
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• 2014

The steam generator tubes of nuclear power plants have various types of corrosion failures during the plant operation. The stress corrosion cracking which occurs on the outer surface of tube is called the secondary side stress corrosion cracking and mainly occurs in the expansion-transition area of tube. The causes are the concentration of impurities by the sludge pile-up related to the geometry of its region and the residual stress by tube expansion in the process of steam generator manufacturing. Especially the directionality and sizes of residual stresses are differed according to the tube expansion methods and the direction and the frequency of tube cracks depend on their characteristics. In bases on the plant experiences, it is notified that circumferential cracks of tubes expanded with explosive expansion method are dominantly occurred compared to those of tubes done with hydraulic expansion one. Therefore in this study, according to tube expansion methods frequencies and sizes of tube cracks with specific direction are compared by means of accelerated immersion test and also the crack morphology and the specific chemicals from water-chemistry environment are observed through the fracture surface examination.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.141-148
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• 1995

Fatigue tests were carried out by a rotary bending testing machine of cantilever type. M.E.F.(ferrite encapsulated islands of martensite) materials were made by a series of heat treatment from a low carbon steel(SM 20 C). The fatigue tests were conducted at stress levels of 302 MPa and with frequencies of 25Hz, 2.5 Hz and 0.5 Hz in 3% NaCl solution. The fatigue strength increased with frequency got higher. The microcracks and corrosion pits were generated at the boundary between the matrix and the 2nd phase. The cracks generated by the corrosion pits were coalesced with the pits around the notch and became the initial crack. The $N_i/N_f$ ratio increased as the frequency and stress level decreased. The interference phenomenon increased with stress level and frequency gots higher. The crack propagation rate was delayed as the stress level lowers and the frequency gets higher, however, the range of the stress intensity factor depended only on a stress level.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.12
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• pp.4481-4490
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• 2022

In this study, a new rupture disk corrosion test (RDCT) method was developed for real-time detection of stress corrosion cracking (SCC) initiation of Alloy 600 in a primary water environment of pressurized water reactors. In the RDCT method, one side of a disk specimen was exposed to a simulated primary water at high temperature and pressure while the other side was maintained at ambient pressure, inducing a dome-shaped deformation and tensile stress on the specimen. When SCC occurs in the primary water environment, it leads to the specimen rupture or water leakage through the specimen, which can be detected in real-time using a pressure gauge. The tensile stress applied to the disk specimen was calculated using a finite element analysis. The tensile stress was calculated to increase as the specimen thickness decreased. The SCC initiation time of the specimen was evaluated by the RDCT method, from which result it was found that the crack initiation time decreased with the decrease of specimen thickness owing to the increase of applied stress. After the SCC initiation test, many cracks were observed on the specimen surface in an intergranular fracture mode, which is a typical characteristic of SCC in the primary water environment.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.501-509
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• 2001

For the enhancement of ECT reliability on the primary water stress corrosion cracks of nuclear steam generator tubes, of which the occurrence is on the increase, it is important to comprehend the signal characteristics on crack morphology and to select an appropriate probe type. In this paper, the sizing accuracy and the detectability for the inner wall axial cracks of tubes were quantitatively evaluated using the following specimens: the electric discharge machined notches and the corrosion cracks which were developed on the operating steam generator tubes. The difference of eddy current signal characteristics between pancake and axial coil were also Investigated. The results obtained from this study provide a useful information for more precise evaluation on the inner wall axial tracks oi stram generator tubes.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.64 no.3
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• pp.323-328
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• 2017

This paper presents a three-dimensional finite element method analysis of repairing plate with bonded composite patch subjected to tensile load. The effect of the corrosion on the damage of the adhesive (FM73) in the length of two horizontal cracks on the both sides is presented. The obtained results show that the crack on the left side creates a very extensive area of the damaged zone and gives values of the stress intensity factor (SIF) higher than that on the right side. We can conclude that the left crack is more harmful (dangerous) than that on the right side.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.228-235
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• 2016

Flaws at dissimilar metal welds (DMWs), such as reactor coolant systems components, Control Rod Drive Mechanism (CRDM), Bottom Mounted Instrumentation (BMI) etc., in nuclear power plants have been found. Notably, primary water stress corrosion cracking (PWSCC) in the DMWs could cause significant reliability problems at nuclear power plants. Therefore, phased array ultrasound is widely used for inspecting surface break cracks and stress corrosion cracks in DMWs. However, inspection of DMWs using phased array ultrasound has a relatively low probability of detection of cracks, because the crystalline structure of welds causes distortion and splitting of the ultrasonic beams which propagates anisotropic medium. Therefore, advanced evaluation techniques of phased array ultrasound are needed for improvement in the probability of detection of flaws in DMWs. Thus, in this study, an investigation of focusing and steering phased array ultrasound in DMWs was carried out using a time reversal technique, and an adaptive focusing technique based on finite element method (FEM) simulation. Also, evaluation of focusing performance of three different focusing techniques was performed by comparing amplitude of phased array ultrasonic signals scattered from the targeted flaw with three different time delays.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2000.11a
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• pp.286-291
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• 2000

The reactor pressure vessel is usually cladded with stainless steel to prevent corrosion and radiation embrittlement, and number of subclad cracks have been found during an in-service-inspection. Therefore assessment for subclad cracks should be made for normal operating conditions and faulted conditions such as PTS. Thus, in order to find the optimum fracture assessment procedures for subclad cracks under a pressurized thermal shock condition, in this paper, three different analyses were performed, ASME Sec. XI code analysis, an LEFM(Liner elastic fracture mechanics) analysis and an EPFM(Elastic plastic fracture mechanics) analysis. The stress intensity factor and the Maximum $RT_{NDT}$ were used for characterizing. Analysis based on ASME Sec. XI code does not completely consider the actual stress distribution of the crack surface, so the resulting Maximum allowable $RT_{NDTS}$ can be non-conservative, especially for deep cracks. LEFM analysis, which does not consider elastic-plastic behavior of the clad material, is much more non-conservative than EPFM analysis. Therefore, It is necessary to perform EPFM analysis for the assessment of subclad cracks under PTS.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.116-122
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• 2018

The secondary coolant of a nuclear power plant has small amounts of various impurities (S, Pb, and Cl, etc.) introduced during the initial construction, maintenance, and normal operation. While the concentration of impurities in the feed water is very low, the flow of the cooling water is restricted, so impurities can accumulate on the Top of Tubesheet (TTS). This environment is chemically very complicated and has a very wide range of pH from acidic to alkaline. In this study, the characteristics of the oxide and the mechanism of stress corrosion cracking (SCC) are investigated for Alloy 690 TT in alkaline solution containing Pb, Cl, and S. Reverse U-bend (RUB) specimens were used to evaluate the SCC resistance. The test solution comprises 3m NaCl + 500ppm Pb + 0.31m $Na_2SO_4$ + 0.45m NaOH. Experimental results show that Alloy 690 TT of the crevice environment containing Pb, S, and Cl has significant cracks, indicating that Alloy 690 is vulnerable to stress corrosion cracking under this environment.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.56-63
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• 1988

The effects of PWHT (poste weld heat treatment) and stress simulating the residual stress during PWHT in weld HAZ of low and high strength steels on corrosion fatigue crack growth were evaluated. The obtained results are summarized as follows. 1. Fatigue crack growth rate of HAZ in air and 3.5% NaCl solution was slower than that of parent due to the signgularity in weld HAZ. 2. In the case of HT-80, 3.5% NaCl solutio nacts to accelerate the crack growth for all specimens, and the sensitivity of as-weld to corrosion environment was the greatest among other PWHT specimens. 3. Corrosion fatigue crack growth of parent, as-weld and PWHT speciments ofr SS41 as well as SM53B was retarded in comparison with the fatigue crack growth in air. 4. There was a tendency that crack growth of PWHT specimens subjected $10kg/mm^2$ was faster than that of PWHT specimens without stress during PWHT. 5. The retardation phenomenon of crack growth in corrosion environment is attributed to the crack branching decreased .DELTA.K due to the corrosion products and multi-cracks.

• Journal of Korea Foundry Society
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.48-54
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• 2018

To improve the durability of the turbocharger, it is important to suppress cracking of the turbine housing; therefore, we investigated the initiation and growth of these cracks. First, we initiated a crack in the turbine housing using endurance experiments. After the endurance test, cracks mainly occurred in the valve seat, the nozzle area, and the scroll part of the turbine housing. The results of a fracture analysis of the cracks showed that cracks in the valve seat were initiated by fatigue fracture. This seems to be caused by the accumulation of mechanical and thermal stresses due to vibration of the turbine wheel and high-temperature exhaust gas. Also, cracks in nozzle and scroll area were initiated by intergranular corrosion due to the exhaust gas. Thus, although there are differences in the cause of initiation according to the site, a concentric waveform was observed in all fracture planes. This phenomenon indicates that cracks gradually grow due to repeated stress changes, and the main causes are the temperature difference of the exhaust gas and the vibration caused by the turbine shaft.