Effect of weld microstructure on brittle fracture initiation in the thermallyaged boiling water reactor pressure vessel head weld metal

Effects of the weld microstructure and inclusions on brittle fracture initiation are investigated in a thermally aged ferritic high-nickel weld of a reactor pressure vessel head from a decommissioned nuclear power plant.As-welded and reheated regions mainly consist of acicular and polygonal ferrite,respectively.Fractographic examination of Charpy V-notch impact toughness specimens reveals large inclusions(0.5-2.5μm)at the brittle fracture primary initiation sites.High impact energies were measured for the specimens in which brittle fracture was initiated from a small inclusion or an inclusion away from the V-notch.The density,geometry,and chemical composition of the primary initiation inclusions were investigated.A brittle fracture crack initiates as a microcrack either within the multiphase oxide inclusions or from the debonded interfaces between the uncracked inclusions and weld metal matrix.Primary fracture sites can be determined in all the specimens tested in the lower part of the transition curve at and below the 41-J reference impact toughness energy but not above the mentioned value because of the changes in the fracture mechanism and resulting changes in the fracture appearance.

Effect of Pre-Deformation Enhanced Thermal Aging on Precipitation and Microhardness of a Reactor Pressure Vessel Steel

Microstructure evolution in neutron irradiated Reactor Pressure Vessel （RPV） steels was experimentally simulated through an improved degradation procedure in this study. The degradation procedure includes austenitizing at 1 150℃ and water quench, deformation 10% and 30% respectively, and then thermal aging at 500℃ for different period of time. The microstructure of the specimens was analyzed in details using transmission electron microscopy （TEM）. The micro-hardness test results showed that all the hardness curves of undeformed, 10% pre-deformed and 30% pre-deformed specimens have two micro-hardness peaks with the first peak value corresponding to different thermal aging time of 1 hour, 5 hours and 10 hours, respectively. It was revealed that the hardness curves were influenced by the precipitation of Cu-rich precipitates （CRPs） and carbides, deposition of martensite and work hardening.

Development of a new irradiation-embrittlement prediction model for reactor pressure-vessel steels

Predicting the transition-temperature shift(TTS)induced by neutron irradiation in reactor pressure-vessel(RPV)steels is important for the evaluation and extension of nuclear power-plant lifetimes.Current prediction models may fail to properly describe the embrittlement trend curves of Chinese domestic RPV steels with relatively low Cu content.Based on the screened surveillance data of Chinese domestic and similar international RPV steels,we have developed a new fluencedependent model for predicting the irradiation-embrittlement trend.The fast neutron fluence(E>1 MeV)exhibited the highest correlation coefficient with the measured TTS data;thus,it is a crucial parameter in the prediction model.The chemical composition has little relevance to the TTS residual calculated by the fluence-dependent model.The results show that the newly developed model with a simple power-law functional form of the neutron fluence is suitable for predicting the irradiation-embrittlement trend of Chinese domestic RPVs,regardless of the effect of the chemical composition.

Crystal Structure Evolution of the Cu-rich Nano Precipitates from bcc to 9R in Reactor Pressure Vessel Model Steel

The crystal structure evolution of the Cu-rich nano precipitates from bcc to 9R during thermal aging was studied in nuclear reactor pressure vessel （RPV） model steels. The specimens, contained higher copper and nickel contents than commercially available one, were heated at 890 ~C for 0.5 h and then water quenched followed by tempering at 0（50 ~C for I0 h and aging at 400 ~C for 1000 h. It was observed that bcc and 9R orthogonal structure, as well as 9R orthogonal and 9R monoclinic structure, coexist in a single Cu-rich nano precipitate. Further analyses pointed out that Cu-rich nano precipitates of bcc structure were not stable, it may preferentially transform to 9R orthogonal structure and then to 9R monoclinic structure. This results showed that the crystal structure evolution of the Cu-rich nano precipitates was complex.

Static recrystallization behavior of SA508Gr.4N reactor pressure vessel steel during hot compressive deformation

The two-pass isothermal hot compression method was used to study the effect of different thermal deformation conditions on static recrystallization behavior in Ni-Cr-Mo series SA508Gr.4N low alloy steel with interval holding time ranging from 1 to 300 s,temperature ranging from 950 to 1150℃,strain rate ranging from 0.01 to 1 s^(-1),true strains ranging from 0.1 to 0.2,and initial austenite grain size ranging from 175 to 552μm.It can be concluded that the static recrystallization volume fraction gradually increases with the increase in the deformation temperature,strain rate,strain and pass interval,and the decrease in the initial grain size,which is mainly due to the increase in the deformation energy storage and dislocations.Moreover,strain-induced grain boundary migration is the nucleation mechanism for static recrystallization of SA508Gr.4N low alloy steel.Based on the stress-strain curve,the predicted value obtained from the established static recrystallization kinetics model is in good consistence with the experimental value,and the static recrystallization thermal activation energy of SA508Gr.4N steel was calculated as 264,225.99 J/mol.

Mechanical and fatigue properties of SA508-Ⅳ steel used for nuclear reactor pressure vessels

The mechanical and fatigue properties of SA508-Ⅳ steel with martensite and granular bainite, respectively, were studied. The mechanical tests results showed that the ultimate tensile strength and impact toughness of the specimen with martensite were 830 MPa and 158 J, respectively, and those of the specimen with granular bainite were 811 MPa and 115 J, respectively. The former had higher tensile strength and impact toughness than the latter. The impact tests results showed that the former belonged to typical dimple fracture, while the latter belonged to brittle fracture. The fatigue tests results showed that the fatigue life of the specimen with martensite was 2717 cycles, and that of the specimen with granular bainite was 1545 cycles under the strain amplitude of ± 0.45%. The specimen with martensite had fewer crack initiation points, narrower fatigue striations separation, and larger volume fraction of high-angle grain boundaries than the latter. The fewer crack initiation points meant fewer fatigue cracks, the narrower fatigue striations separation meant slower crack propagation rate, and the larger volume fraction of high-angle grain boundaries could more effectively hinder fatigue crack propagation. Based on these facts, the fatigue life of the specimen with martensite was higher than that of the specimen with granular bainite.

OKMC simulation of vacancy-enhanced Cu solute segregation affected by temperature/irradiation in the Fe–Cu system

The effects of annealing and irradiation on the evolution of Cu clusters in a-Fe are investigated using object kinetic Monte Carlo simulations.In our model,vacancies act as carriers for chemical species via thermally activated diffusion jumps,thus playing an important role in solute diffusion.At the end of the Cu cluster evolution,the simulations of the average radius and number density of the clusters are consistent with the experimental data,which indicates that the proposed simulation model is applicable and effective.For the simulation of the annealing process,it is found that the evolution of the cluster size roughly follows the 1/2 time power law with the increase in radius during the growth phase and the 1/3 time power law during the coarsening phase.In addition,the main difference between neutron and ion irradiation is the growth and evolution process of the copper-vacancy clusters.The aggregation of vacancy clusters under ion irradiation suppresses the migration and coarsening of the clusters,which ultimately leads to a smaller average radius of the copper clusters.Our proposed simulation model can supplement experimental analyses and provide a detailed evolution mechanism of vacancy-enhanced precipitation,thereby providing a foundation for other elemental precipitation research.

A Peridynamic Approach for the Evaluation of Metal Ablation under High Temperature

In this paper,the evaluations of metal ablation processes under high temperature,i.e.,the Al plate ablated by a laser and a heat carrier and the reactor pressure vessel ablated by a core melt,are studied by a novel peridynamic method.Above all,the peridynamic formulation for the heat conduction problem is obtained by Taylor’s expansion technique.Then,a simple and efficient moving boundary model in the peridynamic framework is proposed to handle the variable geometries,in which the ablated states of material points are described by an additional scalar field.Next,due to the automatic non-interpenetration properties of peridynamic method,a contact algorithm is established to determine the contact relationship between the ablated system and the additional heat carrier.In addition,the corresponding computational procedure is listed in detail.Finally,several numerical examples are carried out and the results verify the validity and accuracy of the present method.

A modified theta projection model for creep behavior of RPV steel 16MND5

During a hypothetical severe accident of light water reactors,the reactor pressure vessel(RPV) could fail due to its creep under the influence of high-temperature corium.Hence,modelling of creep behavior of the RPV is paramount to reactor safety analysis since it predicts the transition point of accident progression from in-vessel to ex-vessel phase.In the present study we proposed a new creep model for the classical French RPV steel 16 MND5,which is adapted from the "theta-projection model" and contains all three stages of a creep process.Creep curves are expressed as a function of time with five model parameters θ_i(i=1-4 and m).A model parameter dataset was constructed by fitting experimental creep curves into this function.To correlate the creep curves for different temperatures and stress loads,we directly interpolate the model’s parameters θ_i(i=1-4 and m) from this dataset,in contrast to the conventional "theta-projection model" which employs an extra single correlation for each θ_i(i=1-4 andm),to better accommodate all experimental curves over the wide ranges of temperature and stress loads.We also put a constraint on the trend of the creep strain that it would monotonically increase with temperature and stress load.A good agreement was achieved between each experimental creep curve and corresponding model’s prediction.The widely used time-hardening and strain-hardening models were performing reasonably well in the new method.

Effect of strain rate and temperature on the serration behavior of SA508-Ⅲ RPV steel in the dynamic strain aging process

Dynamic strain aging （DSA） effect on SA508-III reactor pressure vessel （RPV） steel was investigated. The SA508-III RPV steel was subjected to tension tests at different strain rates （1.1× 10-5 s-1 and 6.6× 10-5 s-1） and different temperatures （500 and 550 ℃） to evaluate the influence of strain rate and temperature on the serrated flow behavior, which is the repetitive and discontinuous yielding phenomenon on the stress-strain curves. The higher temperature leads to the higher density of precipitates, M23C6 carbides and needle-like Mo2C carbides. It was found that the samples under tension test of 6.6 × 10-5 s-1 and 500 ℃ possess superior mechanical properties and mainly show A-type serrations on the tension test curves. Then, the local regress method was used to filter the DSA curves, thus to show the real trend of the curves. It has been found that the less time of interaction between dislocations and precipitates under higher strain rates leads to a higher strength of the sample. The more tiny-stress drops on the 550 ℃ serration curve can be attributed to the hardening phase, M23C6 carbides and needle-like Mo2C carbides. The higher percentage of the small stress drops on the serration curves represents the higher mechanical strength.

Improvement in irradiation resistance of FeCu alloy by pre-deformation through introduction of dense point defect sinks

The irradiation resistance of pre-deformed FeCu alloy was studied using a 3 MeV Fe ion irradiation experiment at room temperature in comparison with that of the as-received sample.Nanoindentation and atom probe tomography(APT) were used to characterize the mechanical properties and solute distribution.The stress-strain curve obtained by nanoindentation shows that the yield strength(σ0.2) of the pre-deformed sample is unexpectedly reduced with an increase in the irradiation dose to five displacements per atom(dpa).We suggest that it results both from the decrease in the dislocation density and the suppression of defects during irradiation.APT shows that the nucleation of the Cu cluster is suppressed;however,its growth is promoted in the pre-deformed sample,resulting in the formation of sparse and coarse clusters at 1 dpa irradiation.These coarse Cu clusters were then unexpectedly refined to finer grains with an increase in the irradiation dose to 5 dpa.Theoretically,the improvement in the resistance to irradiation in the pre-deformed sample is attributed to the dense point-defect sinks,that is,the dislocations and grain boundaries introduced by pre-deformation.In addition,the contributions of the dislocations and grain boundaries to the sink strength are estimated for both the as-received and pre-deformed samples.The results indicate that dislocations,rather than grain boundaries,play a major role after deformation.

Microscopic damage mechanism of SA508 Gr3 steel in ultra-high temperature creep

The lower head of reactor pressure vessel （RPV） will endure a great temperature gradient above the phase transition temperature, and the creep and fracture will be the primary failure mode for the RPV material in such a situation. The interrupted creep tests were performed on a typical RPV material, SA508 Gr3 steel, at 800 ℃. The microstructure of different creep stages was examined by scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. The results showed that the microscopic damage is mainly induced by creep cavities and coarse second-phase particles. Furthermore, the volume fractions of creep cavities and coarse second-phase particles show a linear relationship with the extended creep time. The second-phase particles are determined to be MoC in the second creep stage and Mo2C in the third creep stage, according to the results of selected-area electron diffraction pattern. Combined with energy-dispersive spectrum analysis, the segregation of precipitates caused by the migration of atoms is finally unveiled, which leads to the coarsening of the particles.

Influence evaluation of loading conditions during pressurized thermal shock transients based on thermal-hydraulics and structural analyses

The thermal hydraulic （TH） behavior of coo- lant water is a key factor in the structural integrity assessments on reactor pressure vessels （RPVs） of pressurized water reactors （PWRs） under pressurized thermal shock （PTS） events, because the TH behavior may affect the loading conditions in the assessment. From the viewpoint of TH behavior, configuration of plant equipment and their dimensions, and operator action time considerably influence various parameters, such as the temperature and flow rate of coolant water and inner pressure. In this study, to investigate the influence of the operator action time on TH behavior during a PTS event, we developed an analysis model for a typical Japanese PWR plant, including the RPV and the main components of both primary and secondary systems, and performed TH analyses by using a system analysis code called RELAP5. We applied two different operator action times based on the Japanese and the United States （US） rules： Operators may act after 10 min （Japanese rules） and 30 min （the US rules） after the occurrence of PTS events. Based on the results of TH analysis with different operator action times, we also performed structural analyses for evaluating thermal-stress distributions in the RPV during PTS events as loading conditions in the structural integrity assessment. From the analysis results, it was clarified that differences in operator action times significantly affect TH behavior and loading conditions, as the Japanese rule may lead to lower stresses than that under the US rule because an earlier operator action caused lower pressure in the RPV.

Investigation on bonding interfaces of an SA508 steel billet manufactured by additive forging

An experimental steel billet of SA508 reactor pressure vessel material was manufactured by the additive forging method,and microstructure and mechanical properties of the hot-compression bonding interface were systematically investigated.The result indicated that oxidation levels of bonding interfaces were well controlled using vacuum electron beam welding.It was easy to discriminate interfaces from base materials during the optical microstructure observation,since interfaces were characterized by grain or phase boundaries in a straight line.Test results of uniaxial tensile experiments(at 20 and 350°C)and Charpy V-notched impact tests(at 0 and 20°C)showed that fracture behaviour of all those samples appeared at the base material,and bonding interfaces showed advantage of strength and toughness at the forge bonding state.