It has been clarified that the fatigue life is reduced in the fatigue test of high-temperature and high-pressure water that simulates PWR reactor coolant environment compared to that in the atmosphere, and temperature, strain rates, dissolved oxygen concentration, etc. affect the decrease of fatigue life. In this study, the influence of crack growth behavior on fatigue life of SUS316 in simulated PWR reactor coolant environment of different temperature was investigated. Fatigue tests were conducted under different temperature (325℃ and 200℃) in simulated PWR reactor coolant environment with interrupting tests, and cracks generated on the specimen surface were observed with two step replica observation. From the results of observation, the influence of crack growth behavior in different temperature on the fatigue life was clarified. As a result, it was confirmed that the decrease of fatigue life due to high temperature is mainly caused by the increase in crack propagation rate and the acceleration of apparent crack propagation rate by the crack coalescence due to the increase of crack initiation number. Furthermore, the influence of crack coalescence and stagnation of crack growth on fatigue life in different temperature was studied by the observation of relative position in the relationship of multiple cracks.


Study on the Influence of Crack Growth Behavior on Fatigue Life in Simulated Reactor Coolant Environment of Different Temperature

Division / Sponsors: 
Pressure Vessels & Piping (PVP)


Paper Proceedings: https://asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/PVP/PVP2020/volume/83815

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