FRACTURE BEHAVIOUR OF TYPE 304LN STAINLESS STEEL AND ITS WELDS

摘要

SA312 type 304LN stainless steel material, having closer control over impurities and inclusion content, is the intended piping material in the Advanced Heavy Water Reactors. Deformation, fatigue and fracture behaviour of this material and its weldments have been characterized at ambient temperature and at 558 K. The details of the fractographic investigations and stretch zone width measurements are also discussed. The base metals shows high initiation toughness (>500 kJ/m{{sup}2) and large tearing modulus at ambient and operating temperatures. Shielded Metal Arc Welding (SMAW) weld metal shows much reduced initiation toughness and tearing resistance in comparison to base metal and Gas Tungsten Arc Welding (GTAW) welds. This is attributed to larger density of second phase inclusions in the SMAW weld metal. SZW measurements give a good alternate estimate of the toughness of the materials. Fatigue crack growth rate in SMAW weld metal was found to be comparable to base metal at higher load ratios.