Tin Tat Syme om DAT MEY W Renton Crack Growth Rates of Alloy 182 in High Temperature Water Nos Mitow, Y.Abe, A.Sudo Nuclear Engineering Laboratory, Toshiba Corporation 8, Shinsugita-cho, Isogo-ku, Yokohama 235, Japan T.Kaneko Nuclear Energy Division, Toshiba Corporation 8, Shinsugita-cho, Isogo-ku, Yokohama 235, Japan Abstract ‘The crack growth tests on Alloy 182 under constant load conditions were carried out in 288 °C pure water in order to evaluate the effects of stress intensity factor (K) and dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration on crack growth rate. 1T-CT specimens were machined from 70mm heavy thickness ‘weld joint made of wrought Alloy 600 and Alloy 182 weld metal. A fatigue pre-crack was introduced into each specimen, so that environmentally assisted cracks would propagate parallel to the weld dendrite direction. The weld metal chemistries had a sulfur content of 0.006% and a phosphorus content of 0.012%, During our crack growth testing with an applied constant load, the reversing d.c. potential drop technique was conducted to monitor crack length. ‘The crack growth rate was increased with increasing K from 25 to 41 MPa” m under 250 ppb DO \_ater. The threshold of K for crack growth was considered to be within 15~20 MPay m. The crack growth rates at 35 MPay" m were retarded by changing the DO concentration from 250 ppb to 20 ppb. Key terms: Alloy 182, weld metal, environmentally assisted cracking, crack growth rate, constant load, stress intensity factor, dissolved oxygen Introduction Alloy 182 has been used for the weld metal of structures in light water reactor (LWR) plants. Itis well known that Alloy 182 weldments are susceptible to environmentally assisted cracking (EAC) in high temperature water. The EAC initiation behaviors of this material have been reported by many investigators!-3 by means of laboratory tests such as slow strain rate tests (SSRTS), in which effects of alloy elements and water chemistries have been investigated. On the other hand, few studies of crack growth of this material have been reported. Systematic investigations of crack growth of this, material have been performed by L.Ljungberg et al.4 and P.Andresen’, L.Ljungberg et al. investigated the crack growth behavior of several heats of Alloy 182 having various concentrations of elements (carbon, phosphorus and sulphur) in simulated BWR environment under constant or cyclic Toad conditions to clarify the relationship between crack propagation rate and concentrations of these elements at various values of stress intensity factor (K)'. P.Andresen examined the effect of DO, conductivity and K on crack growth rate under constant load or near constant load conditions and the bserved data were compared with those obtained from the predictive modeling of stainless steelS. fee 541P.Andresen also reported the wide spread of crack growth rate data from many sources as a function of K6, From the viewpoint of stress intensity factor, its effect on crack growth rate is still indistinct. For the purpose of assessing the residual life of the components, itis very important to clarify the relationship between crack growth rates and related conditions. This study was performed to acquire a better understanding of the crack growth behavior of Alloy 182 weldment, The crack growth tests under constant load conditions were carried out in 288 °C pure water to evaluate the effect of K and DO concentration. Experimental Material Single heat of Alloy 182 electrode was used for the tests. 70 mm heavy thickness plate of wrought Alloy 600 was jointed with Alloy 182 elecuodes. Welding was performed by SMAW (shielded metal are welding). The chemical composition of the weld metal is shown in Table 1. The weld metal had 2.0.012% phosphorus and a 0.006% sulphur. ‘Test Specimen, Heat-treatment ‘The specimen used in this study was a standard 1T compact tension (CT) specimen. ‘The specimen had 5% side grooves on cach side surface. The specimens were machined from the weld joint so that environmentally assisted cracks would propagate parallel to the Alloy 182 weld dendrite direction as shown in Figure 1. After machining, some of the specimens were heat-treated at 615°C for 10 hrs which simulated a post-weld heat-treatment (PWHT). Experimental Methods Crack growth tests, The tests were conducted in an autoclave installed in a recirculating loop. ‘The autoclave was equipped with an electrical hydraulic machine for loading specimens. The cover of the autoclave had Conax fittings for lead wires used for crack length measurement. The tests were performed at 288 ‘C and 8.8 MPa. The flow rate was 60 L/h. Control of the DO concentration of the test environment was accomplished by bubbling N2 or 2 gas in the reservoir tank. The inlet water ‘was purified by continuous recirculation of the outlet water through an ion exchanger column and the inlet conductivity was usually kept less than 0.1 x S/cm. Prior to the test, each specimen was fatigue precracked approximately 3.0 mm in room-temperature air at which Kmax value was lower than that for the succeeding crack growth test in high temperature water. ‘The crack growth tests were conducted under constant load condition. The inlet DO concentrations were controlled to be 250 or 20 ppb. The target K values of the specimens were adjusted to 20~40 MPay’m. The specimens were electrically isolated from the autoclave with alumina insulators. The crack lengths were monitored by means of the reversing d.c. potential drop technique. ‘The detail of the technique is described elsewhere”. The current reverse was repeated many times in order to take numerous potential readings in this study. All the tests were conducted without a reference probe. After the end of the test, the specimens were divided into two parts by force and actual final crack lengths on the fracture surfaces were derived in accordance with ASTM Standard E813. Based 542con them, the crack growth data measured by the reversing d.c. potential method were corrected so that the measured final crack length could coincide with the actual one. The crack growth rates were __tained from the slope of crack length vs. time curve, Slow strain rate test. In order to make sure of the EAC susceptibility of this material, a slow strain rate test was conducted in 288 °C pure water containing 200 ppb DO at inlet. A cylindrical tensile specimen with diameter of 3.0 mm and gage length of 20 mm was machined from the weld joint so that a crack plane would be the same as that for CT specimen. PWHT was not applied the specimen, ‘The strain rate was 8X 10 s-1. A crevice on the specimen was formed by wrapping graphite-fiber wool around the gage section. Results Slow Strain Rate Tests The specimen was interrupted at a strain of 20% and then its side surface was examined with scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The result is shown in Figure 2 in which many surface crackings are observed on the gage section. One of the surface crackings was opened out to investigate cracking morphology. Figure 3 shows the result. ‘The interdendritic cracking area with a maximum depth of about 0.3 mm was observed. The result confirmed that this material has EAC susceptibility in 288 C pure water. Crack Growth Tests ‘The crack growth tests were conducted in 288 °C pure water containing 250 ppb (pantially 20 ppb) Oatinlet. The results are summarized in Figure 4 in which all crack growth rate data are plotted as “Y function of K. As a result of fracture surface observation, EAC growth regions were observed on the specimens which exhibited crack growth. An example of the fracture surface of the specimen tested at K=41 MPay’ m is shown in Figure 5. Figure 6 shows a high magnification of EAC growth region in Figure 5, showing interdendritic cracking morphology. Figure 7 shows an example of the optical micrograph of the cross section at the crack extension region of the specimen tested at K=40 MPay’ m, showing secondary intergranular cracking. At K of 21 MPay"'m, three specimens were tested. One as-welded (AW) specimen showed a much lower crack growth rate than those at K=25~41 MPay’ m. The other two specimens, one as-welded and one PWHT, were tested for 1050 hours and did not show any evidence of EAC growth. Figure 8 shows the crack growth behavior of the as-welded specimen tested at K=35 MPay"m when the DO concentration at inlet was changed from 250 ppb to 20 ppb. The crack growth rate was retarded with decreasing DO concentration by a factor of approximately 5. The PWHT'4 specimen also showed a similar tendency. Discussion As shown in Figure 4, the crack growth rate is increased with increasing K from 25 to 41 MPay~m under 250 ppb DO water. There is no significant difference between as-welded specimen and the _- PWHTd one. The crack growth rates are located close to the upper region of the crack growth data i 543eee xs ESTEE SESE Ee gESE EEE SEEEeE in clean normal water chemistry (NWC) condition obtained by L-Ljungberg et al4. The carbide stabilization parameter, proposed by K. Yamauchi et al.8, of the material tested is calculated to be 7.5. ~The relatively low N number might be one of the reasons for higher crack growth rates, A similar tendency was observed by LLjungberg et alt, Asa result of SEM observation of the specimen which exhibited no EAC growth in the tests at K of 21 MPay” m, a few infinitesimally small interdendritic pattems were locally observed at the fatigue- Precrack front. From the examples of them shown in Figure 9, they appear to not be extensive. It seems that the boundary condition whether EAC growth occurs or not is around at K= 20 MPa" m. ‘Therefore, the threshold of K value for EAC growth of the material is considered to be within 15~20 MPay’m, ‘The influence of DO concentration is clearly seen in Figure 4 in case of K=35 MPay"m from which the crack growth rate decreases with decreasing DO concentration. The crack growth rate at DO=20 pb is approximately 5 times lower than that at DO=250 ppb regardless of heat treatment. It is suggested that to reduce DO concentration in water is effective for suppressing EAC growth rate of Alloy 182. P.Andresen reported a similar tendency of crack growth behavior on Alloy 182 using in- plant CAVS (crack arrest verification system) data tested at constant load, Conclusions 1 The crack growth rate was increased with increasing K from 25 to 41 MPay”‘m under 250 ppb DO water. \ _2 The threshold of K value for EAC crack growth was considered to be within 15~20 MPay"m. 8. The crack growth rate at DO=20 ppb was approximately 5 times lower than that at DO=250 ppb in cave of K=35 MPa” m, References R. A. Page, Corrosion, Vol.39,No. 10 (1983) p. 409 2A. McMinn, R. A. Page, Vol.44, No. 4 (1988) p. 239 G. Nakayama, M. Akashi, Proceedings of 6th Intemational Symposium on Environmental Degradation of Materials in Nuclear Power Systems- Water Reactors, p. 883 (1993) 4. L. Ljungberg, D. Cubicciott, M. Trolle, Proceedings of Sth International Symposium on Environmental Degradation of Materials in Nuclear Power Systems- Water Reactors, p. 226 991) P. Andresen, Corrosion/87, paper no. 84 (1987) P. Andresen, Corrosion, Vol. 47, No. 12 (1991) p. 917 M. Itow, A. Sudo, Proceedings of Sth International Symposium on Environmental Degradation of ‘Materials in Nuclear Power Systems-Water Reactors, p. 112 (1991) 8. K. Yamauchi, I. Hamada, T. Okazaki, T. Yokono, A. Nishioka, Proceedings of 5th International ‘Conference on Pressure Vessel Technology, Vol. 2, ASME (1985) p. 599 9. P. Andresen, Proceedings of 5th International Symposium on Environmental Degradation of Materials in Nuclear Power Systems-Water Reactors, p. 209 (1991) soe saaCc Si Mn P S Ni Cr Fe Cu Ti Nb Ta Co 0.046 0.62 5.76 0.012 0.006 68.74 1474 7.33 0.016 0.76 1.14 0.11 0.087 Alloy 182 weld metal 545Figure 3: SEM photograph of an opened surface crack of SSRT specimen showing interdendritic cracking (tested at 200 ppb DO) = |Crack growth rate, mm/sec 108 107 10% 10 © As-weided(AW) a AWs+PWHT closed: 250 ppb DO} open: 20 ppb DO 20 K, MPaym 547 30 40 50Post-crack EAC growth region 6 | Pre-crack EAC growth region (interdendritic) i | | | i (fatigue) Figure 6: SEM photograph of the specimen fracture surface tested at =41 MPay m 5480.2mm, Figure 7: Intergranular secondary crack observed on the cross section at the crack extension region of the specimen tested at K=40 MPay m 22.5 22.0 Crack length, mm 20.5 DO change DO=250ppb| DO=20ppb 288°C pure water K=35MPa ¥m 500 Time, hours 1000 1500 Figure 8: Crack length as a function of time changing DO concentration at inlet from 250 ppb to 20 ppb (tested at K=35 MPa, m) 549Figure 9: Interdendritic pattern observed existing at the fatigue-precrack front of the specimen tested at K=21 MPay’ m 550DISCUSSION Presenting Author: Akira Sudo (Questioner: Peter Andresen, General Electric Corp. R&D Question/Comment: Were the SCC fracture surfaces always as straight and even as you showed in one fractograph? Some investigators have observed highly selective cracking down a few dendrite "fingers" to a great depth. Since the stress intensity at the crack tip of these “fingers” is very much lower than the nominal crack front, [believe such highly selective cracking is indicative of pre-existing (perhaps very tight) weld hot cracks (or “pseudo” hot cracks), not stress corrosion cracking. Reply: All fracture surfaces of CT specimens tested in this investigation showed almost straight crack fronts. and { could not find such highly selective cracking in this investgation, Questioner: Peter Andresen, General Electric Corp. R&D Question/Comment: Could you estimate, or did you measure, the outlet dissolved oxygen concentration or corrosion potential during both the 250 ppb and 20 ppb oxygen test phases? Reply: Outlet DO concentrations were 200 ppb and less than S ppb for inlet DO concentrations of 250 ppb and 20 ppb respectively, while the corrosion potential can estimated to be 50 mVshe and -200 mVsbe for inlet DO ‘concentrations of 250 ppb and 20 ppb respectively, using our test loop data, Questioner: Emest Eason, Modeling & Computing Services, Boulder, CO. (Question/Comment: Have you also tested with the crack oriented to the weld dendrites? Reply: Not yet (but I think the crack growth rate of dendrite in the direction tested in this investigation is higher than that of the perpendicular direction), Questioner: John Hickling, CML Question/Comment: 1) You indicated that the small thumbnail cracks found later (SEM) in one specimen out of three atthe low stress intensity of 20 MPa-Vim_ were not propagating because ofthe test time. Is it aot possible that te cracking occured after a considerable incubation time and was still in progress? 2) Did you see any ‘evidence of crack incubation times at higher stress levels in your tests? Reply: 1) Because the test time of this specimen, which showed the small thumbnail crack (interdendrite pattern), ‘was more than 1000 hours, I think this time was enough to initiate from the fatigue pre-crack and to propagate, So these small cracks could not propagate any more. From the view pount of engineering, I can say the 20 MPa/m is the threshold that EAC propagates or not. 2) At higher stress levels. crack initiation times were less than 50-100 ‘hours in this investigation Questioner: Gerald Gordon, General Electric Nuclear Questiow/Comment: Since the possibility of pre-existing microfiswures in the crack growth rate specimens could lead to faster "apparent" crack growth rates in the BWR test environment, did you look for microfissuring- For ‘example, did you run SSRT tests in air or an inert environment to look for mictofissures- or only SSRT tests in the BWR loop tests. 551Reply; All SSRT tests were carried out at high temperature water conditions, but I performed tensile tests in room temperature air using a specimen machined from the same joints, and I could not find any microfissuring after that test 552