Long-Term Embrittlement of Cast Duplex Stainless Steels in LWR (Light Water Reactor) Systems. Semiannual Report October, 1987-March 1988.

摘要

The primary objectives of the program are to (1) investigate the significance of inservice embrittlement of cast duplex stainless steels under light-water-reactor (LWR) operating conditions, and (2) evaluate possible remedies for the embrittlement problem in existing and future plants. The scope of the program includes the following goals: (1) characterize and correlate the microstructure of in-service reactor components and laboratory-aged material with loss of fracture toughness to establish the mechanism of aging and to validate the simulation of in-reactor degradation by accelerated aging, (2) establish the effects of key compositional and metallurgical variables on the kinetics and extent of embrittlement, and (3) obtain fracture toughness data on long-term-aged materials to predict the degree of toughness loss suffered by cast stainless steel components during normal and extended service life of reactors.