Marc Foucault

A Methodology to Deduce the Microstructural Spatial Deformation of Polycrystalline Structures: Application to the Alloy 600

Studying the corrosion of the alloy 600, under water pressure, is of high importance to understand the ageing process of pressurized water reactors. Today, the impact of the oxide growth on the mechanical properties of nickel alloys is a challenge. The surface analysis and the quantification of the local deformation are key factors to deduce the surface damage of the substrate produced by corrosion. Here, we introduce a new methodology to determine the deformation distribution of the alloy 600 by using polycrystalline samples. The method is based on nanopads disposed on the surface samples, which allow a mapping, at the microscopic scale, of the spatial deformation. We applied to the samples a tensile loading in the plastic domain from 0 to 4%. The obtained asymmetric deformations distribution reflects the polycrystallinity of the system.