Influence of the S/N Ratio on the Corrosion Release of Alloy 690 Tubes in a Primary Coolant

摘要

Alloy 690TT is a promising steam generator (SG) tube material of a pressurized water reactor due to its excellent resistance to stress corrosion cracking (SCC) that has caused problems in Alloy 600 as an old SG tube material. The qualities of this material have been managed thoroughly from manufacturing step under various specification regulations as well as in in-service step. For examples, the surface roughness are prescribed as the values less than 1.6 μm for the tube outside and 0.5 μm for the inside, respectively. In addition, the surface state and defect must be qualified through the eddy current test (ECT) and the ultrasonic test (UT) according to the ASME Section III, NB2550 [1]. Then, the signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio, which is measured using ECT bobbin probe, is the important criteria to determine the material and it shall be 15 to 1 or higher at the standard frequency for any fixed 0.5 m length of any tube. The corrosion behaviours of the Alloy 690TT under high-temperature pressurized primary water have been studied widely in a point of the SCC but discussed narrowly in a point of the corrosion release. In particular, the effect of the S/N ratio on the corrosion release of this material surface has been rarely investigated. In this work, we evaluate the influence of the S/N ratio on the corrosion release of Alloy 690 SG tubes. The specimens with different S/N ratio were selected through ECT bobbin inspection and a corrosion release test was conducted using a simulated primary circulation loop. The material properties and oxidation behaviours were investigated by surface profiler, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, grazing incidence X-ray diffraction and etc. As a result, the corrosion rate was matched preferably with the MRPC characteristics showing macroscopic surface state rather than with the bobbin S/N ratio results.