Ji Hyun Yoon

Effects of loading rate and temperature on J–R fracture resistance of an SA516-Gr.70 steel for nuclear piping

Abstract The effects of loading rate and temperature on the fracture resistance of an ASME SA516-Gr.70 steel for nuclear piping were investigated through J–R tests conducted in the wide ranges of temperatures, including reactor operating temperature, and loading rates, including quasi-dynamic rate. Tensile properties were also investigated in the temperature range of 100–316°C over a range of strain rates. The test results indicated that the SA516-Gr.70 steel was very susceptible to dynamic strain aging (DSA). The fracture resistance showed a minimum in the temperature range between 200 and 400°C, depending on loading rate. The temperature for minimum was moved to higher temperature as the loading rates were increased. The minimum was discussed in the viewpoints of DSA that is manifested by elevated temperature tensile tests. The crack tip strain rates of fracture specimens were also correlated with the strain rates of tensile tests to interpret the DSA effect.

Fracture toughness and the master curve for modified 9Cr−1Mo steel

Modified 9Cr−1Mo steel is a primary candidate material for the reactor pressure vessel of a Very High Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor (VHTR) in the Korean Nuclear Hydrogen Development and Demonstration (NHDD) program. In this study, the T0 reference temperature, J-R fracture resistance and Charpy impact properties were evaluated for commercial Grade 91 steel as part of the preliminary testing for a selection of the RPV material for the VHTR. The fracture toughness of the modified 9Cr−1Mo steel was compared with that of SA508−Gr.3. The objective of this study was to obtain the pre-irradiation fracture toughness properties of the modified 9Cr-1Mo steel as reference data for an investigation of radiation effects. Charpy impact properties of the modified 9Cr-1Mo steel were similar to those of SA508−Gr.3. T0 reference temperatures were measured as −67.7 and −72.4°C from the tests with standard PCVN (pre-cracked Charpy V-notch) and half-sized PCVN specimens respectively, which were similar to the results for SA508−Gr.3. The KJc values of the modified 9Cr-1Mo steel with the test temperatures are successfully expressed by the Master Curve. The J-R fracture resistance of the modified 9Cr−1Mo steel at room temperature was nearly identical to that of SA508−Gr.3; in contrast, it was slightly higher at an elevated temperature.

J-R Fracture Characteristics of Ferritic Steels for RPVs and RCS Piping of Nuclear Power Plants

J-R fracture resistance tests have been performed on 3 heats of SA508-Gr.3 nuclear reactor pressure vessel (RPV) steel as well as 2 heats of SA516-Gr.70 and a heat of SA508-Gr.1a steels for nuclear reactor coolant system (RCS) piping. For the latter two steels, dynamic in addition to static J-R fracture resistances were investigated. From the test results of the SA508-Gr.3 steels, the J-R fracture resistance was superior in the following order: Si-killing steel, modified VCD steel and VCD steel. Microstructural analyses were carried out to correlate J-R fracture resistances with microstructural characteristics. According to the test results for SA508-Gr.1a and SA516-Gr.70 steels, all of the tested steels showed steep drops in fracture resistance at certain temperature and loading rate combinations. One heat of SA516-Gr.70 steel was very sensitive to dynamic strain aging and its fracture resistance was significantly low. It was concluded that microstructural and chemical factors affect the J-R fracture and DSA characteristics of SA516-Gr.70 steels.

An iteration method for directly determining J-Resistance curves of nuclear structural steels

An iteration method has been developed for determining crack growth and fracture resistance curves (J-R curves) of nuclear structural steels 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 and SA516 pressure vessel steels and their welds and SA312 stainless steel.

Effects of chemical compositions of welding rods on J-R fracture resistances and tensile properties of type 347 welds

The objective of this investigation was to correlate the chemical composition of welding rods for gas tungsten arc welding with the fracture resistance and tensile properties of type 347 welds through the systematic tests and microstructural analyses. Five weld metals which differed in contents of carbon, nitrogen and niobium each other and a high δ-ferrite containing weld metal were deposited by the six different welding rods. J-R fracture resistance and tensile properties were evaluated for the type 347 welds. The microstructural examinations were performed to relate key microstructural features to mechanical properties. It was found that the contents of Nb(C,N) precipitates in type 347 welds were determined by the mixed function of carbon and nitrogen and niobium contents in welding rods. The strengths of type 347 welds were in direct proportion to the contents of Nb(C,N) and J-R fracture resistances were inversely proportional to the contents of Nb(C,N). It was concluded that the type 347 weld with high fracture resistance and adequate strength was obtainable by controlling the sum of carbon and nitrogen contents near 0.1wt% and a limitation of the carbon content below 0.04 wt% in welding rod.

Effects of Alloying Elements on Fracture Properties of Niobium Stabilized Austenitic Steels at Elevated Temperature

The present work is a further investigation into the effects of the carbon (C), nitrogen (N) and niobium (Nb) contents on then fracture properties of the Type 347 stainless steels at 316oC. 9 heats of systematically designed alloys were examined. Through SEM-EDS, TEM and XRD analyses, two kinds of precipitates, Nb(C,N), CrNbN were identified in the Type 347 steels with a high ratio of wt% N to wt% C, on the other hand only Nb(C,N)s were found in the Type 347 steels with a low ratio of wt% N to wt% C. The tearing moduli were decreased in the range of 52~60% as the carbon content increased from 0.03wt% to 0.05wt%. The tearing moduli were lowered by 52~59% in the alloys with a high nitrogen. It was deduced from the microstructure analysis results that the coarse Nb-rich precipitates control the fracture resistance of the Type 347 as they act as the potential sites for the nucleation of micro-voids.

Effects of Chemical Composition and Welding Process on Fracture Resistance of Type 347 Stainless Steel Weld

The present study is a systematic investigation of the effects of microstructural changes, which have originated from the variations of filler metals and welding processes, on the J-R properties of simulated welds. Two AISI Type 347 weld metals, with different carbon contents, deposited by a GTAW process and two AISI Type 347 weld metals, with different carbon contents, deposited by a SMAW process were used in this study. The J-R tests were conducted at 316oC (600oF). The welds deposited by the GTAW process showed higher fracture resistances when compared to the welds deposited by the SMAW process. The J-R fracture resistance of the Type 347-GTAW processed weld with high carbon content was remarkably low when compared to the weld with low carbon. The J-R fracture resistances were decreased by coarse Nb(C, N) precipitates in the Type 347 weld deposited by the GTAW process. In the case of the SMAW welds, mainly coarse Ti-rich particles which had originated from the shielding of the welding rods deteriorated the fracture resistances.

Fatigue Crack Growth Behaviors of AISI Type 347 Nuclear Piping Material

The effect of the temperature and microstructure on the fatigue crack growth behaviors of two microstucturally different AISI type 347 stainless steel(SS)s are studied at reactor operating temperature conditions. From the results, it was observed that the fatigue crack growth rate(FCGR) of type 347 SS increased as the test temperature was increased. However, its temperature sensitivity was reduced when the ΔK was large. The measured FCGRs for both TP347-LP and TP347-HP at 25oC and 345oC were lower than those presented in the ASME code. Especially near the threshold region, the trend curve in ASME code overestimated the FCGR of type 347 SS when compared with the obtained data. Even though the effect of the microstructure on the macro-crack growth rate was not significant during stage 2, the differences between threshold values for the specimen with a high precipitate density and the one with a low precipitate density were observed. It is assumed that these differences in the precipitate density, which resulted in a difference in mean free path length of dislocation movement, are the source of the difference in ΔKth of type 347 steels.

Bainitic Transformation Model in Low Alloy Carbon Steels Considering the Effect of Reaction Constant in JMA Equation

As a part of a study on modeling the microstructural evolution during the welding process, a prediction model of TTT diagram for bainite transformation was studied. This model consisted of a thermodynamic model for the bainite-start(Bs) temperature and a kinetic model for the bainite transformation. A kinetic model was empirically established for low alloy carbon steels, based on Johnson-Mehl-Avrami(JMA) equation. Reaction constants seemed not to have noticeable tendencies for temperatures and were averaged for each alloy. It was, however, found that the mean reaction constant significantly affected the reproducibility for the isothermal kinetics. Therefore, a calibration method to the kinetic parameter was proposed. From calibrations, rate constants were formulated as a function of alloying element and temperature. And TTT diagrams were calculated and compared with experiments.

Correlation between Microstructure and J-R Fracture Resistance of AISI Type 347 Weld

The influence of the microstructure on the J-R ductile crack growth resistance of austenitic stainless steel AISI Type 347 welds was examined. The optical and electron microscopy, and chemical examinations and XRD analysis were conducted on a series of J-R test specimens which were tested at 316oC. It was concluded that the J-R property of the Type 347 weld decreased with increasing the contents of the Nb(C, N) precipitates which were dependant on the carbon contents of the filler metals. The higher δ-ferrite content also deteriorated the J-R property of the Type 347 weld.