• Journal of Welding and Joining
• /
• v.26 no.3
• /
• pp.5-10
• /
• 2008

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.46 no.6
• /
• pp.869-874
• /
• 2014

It was discovered in a Korean PWR that an extensive number of very short and shallow cracks in the SG tubes were undetectable by eddy current in-service-inspection because of the masking effect of sludge deposits. Axial stress corrosion cracks at the outside diameter of the steam generator tubes near the line contacts with the tube support plates are the major concern among the six identical Korean nuclear power plants having CE-type steam generators with Alloy 600 high temperature mill annealed tubes, HU3&4 and HB3~6. The tubes in HB3&4 have a less susceptible microstructure so that the onset of ODSCC was substantially delayed compared to HU3&4 whose tubes are most susceptible to ODSCC among the six units. The numbers of cracks detected by the eddy current inspection jumped drastically after the steam generators of HB4 were chemically cleaned. The purpose of the chemical cleaning was to mitigate stress corrosion cracking by removing the heavy sludge deposit, since a corrosive environment is formed in the occluded region under the sludge deposit. SGCC also enhances the detection capability of the eddy current inspection at the same time. Measurement of the size of each crack using the motorized rotating pancake coil probe indicated that the cracks in HB4 were shorter and substantially shallower than the cracks in HU3&4. It is believed that the cracks were shorter and shallower because the microstructure of the tubes in HB4 is less susceptible to ODSCC. It was readily understood from the size distribution of the cracks and the quantitative information available on the probability of detection that most cracks in HB4 had been undetected until the steam generators were chemically cleaned.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
• /
• v.32 no.1
• /
• pp.22-27
• /
• 2014

In the past, cold crack was commonly observed in the HAZ(heat affected zone) of high-strength steels. Applying to TMCP(thermo-mechanical controlled process) and HSLA(high strength low alloy) steels, cold crack tends to increase the occurrence in the weld metal. It is generally understood that cold crack occurs when the following factors are present simultaneously : diffusible hydrogen in the weld metal, a susceptible microstructure and residual stress. In particular, many studies investigated the microstructural effect on the cold crack in HAZ and the cold crack in weld metals starts to receive the special attendance in modern times. The purpose of the study is to review the effect of weld microstructures (grain boundary ferrite, Widm$\ddot{a}$nstatten ferrite, acicular ferrite, bainite and martensite) on cold crack in the weld metals. Among various microstructures of weld metals, acicular ferrite produced the greatest resistance to the cold crack due to the fine interlocking nature and high-angle grain boundary of the microstructure.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
• /
• v.31 no.6
• /
• pp.8-16
• /
• 2013

As the energy consumption increases rapidly, power generation needs the high energy efficiency continuously. To achieve the high efficiency of power generation, the materials used have to endure the higher temperature and pressure. The 9-12%Cr steels possess good mechanical properties, corrosion resistance, and creep strength in high temperature due to high Cr contents. Therefore, the 9-12%Cr steels are widely used for the high-temperature components in power plants. Even though the steels usually have a fully martensitic microstructure, they are susceptible to the formation of ${\delta}$-ferrite specifically during the welding process. The formation of ${\delta}$-ferrite has several detrimental effects on creep, ductility and toughness. Therefore, it is necessary to avoid its formation. As the volume fraction of ${\delta}$-ferrite is less than 2% in microstructure, it has the isolated island morphology and causes no significant degradation on mechanical properties. For ${\delta}$-ferrite above 2%, it has a polygonal shape affecting the detrimental influence on the mechanical properties. The formation of ${\delta}$-ferrite is affected by two factors: a chemical composition and a welding heat input. The most effective ways to get a fully martensite microstructure are to reduce the chromium equivalent less than 13.5, to keep the difference between the chromium and nickel equivalent less than 8, and to reduce the welding heat input.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
• /
• v.13 no.1
• /
• pp.92-100
• /
• 2017

Due to the presence of ferrite phase in the finished welds, austenitic stainless steel welds (ASSWs) are considered susceptible to the thermal aging embrittlement during long-term service in light water reactor environment. In this study, the thermal aging embrittlement of typical ASSWs, E308 and ER316L welds, were evaluated after the long-term exposure up to 20,000 h at $400^{\circ}C$, which is considered as an accelerated thermal aging condition. After thermal aging, the decrease of tensile ductility and fracture toughness was observed. The microstructure observation with high resolution transmission electron microscopy revealed that spinodal decomposition in ferrite phase of both E308 and ER316L welds would be the main cause of the degradation of mechanical properties. Also, it was shown that the difference of thermal ageing embrittlement between ER316L and E308 welds was significant, such that the reduction of fracture resistance for ER316L weld was much larger than that of E308 weld.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
• /
• v.14 no.1
• /
• pp.35-40
• /
• 2004

In this study, dissolution characteristics of four types of commercial calcium phosphate ceramics were investigated in distilled water with respect to chemical composition and microstructure. For all samples, no significant damage was observed after 3 days of immersion. Following the 7 days of immersion, surface dissolution of the ceramics containing a crystalline phase susceptible to water such as TCP, even pure hydroxyapatite, was initiated at grain boundaries and the dissolution was extended interior to the material along the grain boundaries. In the considerably dissolved area, there was grain separation followed by the formation of 20 $\mu\textrm{m}$ of cavities. In at least one case, the residual pores on the surface appeared to initiate dissolution. In a dissolved area, a crack during the fracture propagates along the grain boundaries resulting in intergranular fracture, while transgranular fracture occurs in a dense area without significant dissolution.

• Proceedings of the KWS Conference
• /
• 2002.10a
• /
• pp.266-272
• /
• 2002

This study reviews the factors controlling the weld metal cracking and shows the difference from those of HAZ cracking. It further reviews the recent progresses made in consumable design for improving the crack resistance in the high strength weld metal. Previously the controlling factors for weld metal cracking were regarded as weld metal strength, diffusible hydrogen and weld metal height. However an overall review presented in this article shows that the cold crack resistance can be improve significantly through the microstructural control and that an increase in tensile strength is not necessarily related to a decrease in the resistance to cold cracking.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
• /
• v.45 no.6
• /
• pp.284-288
• /
• 2012

A study on microstructure control of multi-phase steel have been implemented to higher strength with improved formability. However, it is well known that the high strength of steel are susceptible to hydrogen embrittlement. The mechanisms of hydrogen embrittlement is caused by complex interactions. In this paper, the test specimens were fabricated to 5 type of 590DP steels at different levels of volume faction. The hydrogen charging was conducted by electrochemical hydrogen-charge method with varying charging time. The relationship between hydrogen concentration and volume fraction of 590DP steel was established by SP test and SEM-fractography. It was shown that the hydrogen amounts charged in 590DP steels increased with increasing the volume faction of austenite. The maximum loads of the 590DP steels in SP test were sharply decreased with increasing hydrogen charging time. The results of SEM-fractography investigation showed typical brittle-fracture surfaces for hydrogen-charged 590DP steels.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
• /
• v.20 no.2
• /
• pp.69-76
• /
• 2021

In this work, we have performed a corrosion failure analysis of a leaking tube connected to an upper header of a condensate pre-heater in a heat recovery steam generator. It was revealed that the leakage position in the tube was the location where the materials were easily vulnerable due to tensile residual stresses induced by the material manufacturing process and welding process. In addition to an imbalance in the module induced by temperature difference during operation of the pre-heater, the weight of the modules and thermal fatigue provoked a type of stress of tensile-tensile fatigue on the tube. Thus, the leakage position of the pre-heater was exposed to the tensile stress on the inner surface of the tube facing the gas, which rendered the unstable oxide layer susceptible to corrosion and the formation of pits on the water side. The cracks propagated along with the degraded microstructure in a transgranular cracking mode under fatigue loading and finally resulted in water leakage.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.45 no.4
• /
• pp.513-522
• /
• 2013

The ODSCC detected in the TSP position of Ulchin 3&4 SGs are typical ODSCC of Alloy 600MA tubes. The causative chemical environment is formed by concentration of impurities inside the occluded region formed by the tube surface, egg crate strips, and sludge deposit there. Most cracks are detected at or near the line contacts between the tube surface and the egg crate strips. The region of dense crack population, as defined as between $4^{th}$ and $9^{th}$ TSPs, and near the center of hot leg hemisphere plane, coincided well with the region of preferential sludge deposition as defined by thermal hydraulics calculation using SGAP computer code. The cracks developed homogeneously in a wide range of SGs, so that the number of cracks detected each outage increased very rapidly since the first detection in the $8^{th}$ refueling outage. The root cause assessment focused on investigation of the difference in microstructure and manufacturing residual stress in order to reveal the cause of different susceptibilities to ODSCC among identical six units. The manufacturing residual stress as measured by XRD on OD surface and by split tube method indicated that the high residual stress of Alloy 600MA tube played a critical role in developing ODSCC. The level of residual stress showed substantial variations among the six units depending on details of straightening and OD grinding processes. Youngwang 3&4 tubes are less susceptible to ODSCC than U3 and U4 tubes because semi-continuous coarse chromium carbides are formed along the grain boundary of Y3&4 tubes, while there are finer less continuous chromium carbides in U3 and U4. The different carbide morphology is caused by the difference in cooling rate after mill anneal. There is a possibility that high chromium content in the Y3&4 tubes, still within the allowable range of Alloy 600, has made some contribution to the improved resistance to ODSCC. It is anticipated that ODSCC in Y5&6 SGs will be retarded more considerably than U3 SGs since the manufacturing residual stress in Y5&6 tubes is substantially lower than in U3 tubes, while the microstructure is similar with each other.