• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.28 no.12
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• pp.1968-1973
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• 2004

Structural degradations are often experienced on the components of nuclear power plants in reactor pressure vessels (RPV) and steam generators (SG) when these components are exposed to high temperature and high pressure for a long period of time. Such conditions result in the change of microstructures and of mechanical properties of materials, which requires an evaluation of the safeguards related to structural integrity. 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 under the operating temperature between 290 and 33$0^{\circ}C$. Under the same conditions, it is well known that degradation is not observed in low alloy steel. An investigation of the effect of thermal aging on the various mechanical properties of the dissimilar weld zone is required. The purpose of the present investigation is to find the effect of thermal aging on the dissimilar weld zone. The specimens are prepared by an artificially accelerated aging technique maintained for various times at 43$0^{\circ}C$, respectively. Then, The various mechanical test for the dissimilar welds are performed.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2007.05a
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• pp.244-249
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• 2007

In several locations of the pressurized water reactors, dissimilar metal welds using inconel welding wires are used to join the low alloy steel nozzles to stainless steel pipes. To evaluate the integrity and design the dissimilar welds, tensile and fracture properties variations are needed. In this study, dissimilar metal welds composed of SA508 Gr.3 LAS, inconel 82/182 weld, and TP316 stainless steel were prepared by gas tungsten arc welding and shielded metal arc welding technique. Microstructures were observed using optical and electron microscopes. Different tensile and fracture properties were observed depending on the specimen sampling position at room temperature and $320^{\circ}C,$ and that was discussed based on the microstructure characteristics. It was found that the strength at the bottom of weld was greater than at the top of the weld. Also, from the test data using small punch specimen, more detailed tensile property variations were evaluated.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.48-56
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• 2006

The fatigue strength of the welds is affected by such factors as the weld geometry, microstructures, tensile properties and residual stresses caused by fabrication. It is very important to evaluate the structural integrity of the welds in nuclear power plant because the weldment undergoes the most of damage and failure mechanisms. In this study, the fatigue assessments for a reactor vessel outlet nozzle with the weldment to the piping system are performed considering the welding residual stresses as well as the effect of local brittle zone in the vicinity of the weld fusion line. The analytical approaches employed are the microstructure and mechanical properties prediction by semi-analytical method, the thermal and stress analysis including the welding residual stress analysis by finite element method, the fatigue life assessment by following the ASME Code rules. The calculated results of cumulative usage factors(CUF) are compared for cases of the elastic and elasto-plastic analysis, and with or without residual stress and local brittle zone effects, respectively. Finally, the fatigue life of reactor vessel outlet nozzle weld is slightly affected by the local brittle zone and welding residual stresses.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.205-211
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• 2013

This paper studies on mechanical properties, fractures, and ultrasonic characteristics of Pure Titanium welds using ultrasonic attenuation. Ti specimen was made by using AR purge gas. When the titanium weld specimen is fractured, Tensile tests were conducted in order to observe the ultrasonic signal changes. A scanning electron microscope(SEM) was used to observe changes in failure surface and an ultrasonic normal probe with the central frequency of 4 MHz was used to obtain ultrasonic signals. As a result, the value of the mechanical properties in the weld zone was lower than that in the base zone and heat affected zone(HAZ) from Ti. Also the grain size in the weld zone was bigger than that in the weld zone and HAZ from Ti. Ultrasonic signals using a RMS method presents correlation between envelope area and the tensile strength. Consequently, the ultrasonic method could be potential tool for integrity evaluation of the Ti weld zone.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.367-372
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• 2010

A power plant's heat exchangers work under poor conditions, such as high temperature, high pressure, corrosion, mechanical stress and vibration. Especially, partial joint-weld of heat exchanger's header to stub-tube is the place where incomplete penetration flaws can easily occur. But, it is hard to evaluate the safety of the structure by conventional nondestructive testing techniques. So it is necessary to test integrity of the weld inside and to develop testing technique and equipment that can detect the flaws at the weld point in order to enhance reliability of the test result. In this study, we developed a suitable automated ultrasonic testing system that can inspect the partial joint-weld of header to stub-tube of power plant. Finally, we showed the efficiency of the automated ultrasonic-testing-system from the application.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.393-406
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• 1993

In resistance spot welding process, size of molten nuggest have been utilized to assess the integrity of the weld quality. However real-time monitoring of the nugget size is an extremely difficult problem. This paper describes the design of an artificial neural networks(ANN) estimator to predict the nugget size for on-line use of weld quality monitoring. The main task of the ANN estimator is to realize the mapping characteristics from the sampled dynamic resistance signal to the actual negget size through training. The structure of the ANN estimator including the number of hidden layers and nodes in a layer is determined by an estimation error analysis. A series of welding experiments are performed to assess the performance of the ANN estimator. The results are quite promissing in that real-time estimation of the invisible nugget size can be achieved by analyzing the dynamic resistance signal without any conventional destructive testing of welds.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.74-78
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• 2015

Nuclear power plant steam generator that is one of the main component has several thousands of thin tubes. And the steam generator tube is subject to damage because of the severe operation conditions such as the high temperature and pressure. Therefore periodic inspections are conducted to ensure the integrity of steam generator component. Hanul unit 3 also has been inspected in accordance with in-service inspection program and is scheduled to be replaced for exceeding the plugging rate which was recommended by manufacturer. During the steam generator replacement activity, we found several clustered porosity on inner surface of main feed water pipe. Additionally crack-like indications were found at weld interface between base material and weld of main feed water pipe. This paper describes the field experience and visual testing results for inner surface of main feed water pipes. The destructive test result had shown that these indications were porosities which were caused by manufacturing process not by operation service.

• Transactions of Materials Processing
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• v.21 no.8
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• pp.467-472
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• 2012

Shaving shear-welding is a solid-state welding process, which utilizes plastic deformation of surplus material. The solid-state nature of this process contributes to high integrity and strength of the weld. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of process variables on the material flow patterns and identify the process condition for obtaining the best weld. FEM simulations were carried out along with experimental characterizations. The results showed the importance of the cutter angles and the overlap lengths, and helped attain the optimum shaving shear-welding die and the best process condition.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.30-34
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• 2015

Residual stresses are inherently introduced into the engineering components during manufacturing including rolling, forging, bending and welding processes. Excessive residual stresses are known to be detrimental to the proper integrity and performance of components. Neutron diffraction has become a well-established technique for the determination of residual stresses in welds. The deep penetration capability of neutrons into most metallic materials makes neutron diffraction a powerful tool for the residual stress measurements through the thickness of the weld specimen. Furthermore, the unique volume-averaged bulk characteristic of the scattering beam and mapping capability in three dimensions is suitable for the engineering purpose. In this presentation, the neutron diffraction measurements of the residual stresses will be introduced and measurement results will highlighted in thick weld plates.

• Proceedings of the KWS Conference
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• 1998.10a
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• pp.11-24
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• 1998

The invention of fusion wilding technology has brought on a revolutionary change in manufacturing industry which enables the construction of large scale high temperature plants in chemical, petrochemical and power generation industries. However, among the failure cases of high temperature components, premature failures of weldments have taken a large percentage that indicates the detrimental effect of welding on structural integrity. The accurate prediction of the high temperature behaviour of welded components is thus becoming increasingly important in order to realise an optimised design and maintenance of a plant life. In the present paper, recent research activities on high temperature behaviour of welded structures are briefly summarised. A local deformation measuring technique is proposed to determine the creep properties of weldment constituents. A damage mechanics approach is introduced to study the life reduction and ductility reduction due to the presence of a weld in high temperature structures. Finally, the high temperature creep crack growth in weldments is discussed.