Studies of aged cast stainless steel from the Shippingport reactor

Abstract

The mechanical properties of cast stainless steels from the Shippingport reactor have been characterized. Baseline properties for unaged materials were obtained from tests on either recovery-annealed material or material from a cooler region of the component. The materials exhibited modest decrease in impact energy and fracture toughness and a small increase in tensile strength. The fracture toughness J-R curve, J{sub IC} value, tensile flow stress, and Charpy-impact energy of the materials showed very good agreement with estimations based on accelerated laboratory aging studies. The kinetics of thermal embrittlement and degree of embrittlement at saturation, i.e., the minimum impact energy that would be achieved after long-term aging, were established from materials that were aged further in the laboratory at temperatures between 320 and 400{degree}C. The results showed very good agreement with estimates; the activation energies ranged from 125 to 250 kJ/mole and the minimum room-temperature impact energy was >75 J/cm{sup 2}. The estimated impact energy and fracture toughness J-R curve for materials from the Ringhals reactor hot and crossover-leg elbows are also presented.