Stress corrosion cracking on irradiated 316 stainless steel

Tests on irradiation-assisted stress corrosion cracking (IASCC) were carried out by using cold-worked (CW) 316 stainless steel (SS) in-core flux thimble tubes which were irradiated up to 5×1026 n/m2 (E>0.1 MeV) at 310°C in a Japanese PWR. Unirradiated thimble tube was also tested for comparison with irradiated tubes. Mechanical tests such as the tensile, hardness tests and metallographic observations were performed. The susceptibility to SCC was examined by the slow strain rate test (SSRT) under PWR primary water chemistry condition and compositional analysis on the grain boundary segregation was made. Significant changes in the mechanical properties due to irradiation such as a remarkable increase of strength and hardness, and a considerable reduction of elongation were seen. SSRT results revealed that the intergranular fracture ratio (%IGSCC) increased as dissolved hydrogen (DH) increased. In addition, SSRT results in argon gas atmosphere showed a small amount of intergranular cracking. The depletion of Fe, Cr, Mo and the enrichment of Ni and Si were observed in microchemical analyses on the grain boundary.