Characterisation of oxide films formed on Alloy 600 in simulated PWR primary water

Alloy 600 is used as a material for a steam generator tubing in pressurized water reactors(PWR) due to its high corrosion resistance under a PWR environment. In spite of its corrosion resistance, a stress corrosion cracking(SCC) has occurred on the primary side as well as the secondary side of a tubing. It is known that a SCC is related to the electrochemical behaviors of an anodic dissolution and a passivation of a bare surface of metals and alloys. Therefore in the present work, the passive oxide films on Alloy 600 have been investigated as a function of the solution temperature by using a potentiodynamic polarization, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and a TEM, equipped with EDS. Moreover the semiconductive property was evaluated by using the Mott-Schottky relation. It was found that the passivity depends on the chemical composition and the densification of the oxide film rather than the oxide thickness. As the solution temperature of 0.5M H3BO3 increased, the thickness of the passive film increased but the oxide resistance of the passive film was decreased, indicating that the measured current in the passive region of the potentiodynamic curve is closely related to the stability of the passive film rather than the oxide thickness. It was found that the oxide films were composed of an outer oxide layer with a lower resistance and an inner oxide layer with a relatively higher resistance. From the Mott-Schottky relation, the oxide formed at 300oC showed a p-type semiconductor property unlike the n-type oxide films up to 250oC.

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Susceptibility to Severe PWSCC (primary water stress corrosion cracking) of LTMA (low temperature mill anneal) Alloy 600

Korean Journal of Metals and Materials ◽

10.3365/kjmm.2020.58.12.815 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 58 (12) ◽

pp. 815-821

Author(s):

Sung Soo Kim ◽

Jung Jong Yeob ◽

Young Suk Kim

Keyword(s):

Water Stress ◽

Low Temperature ◽

Stress Corrosion Cracking ◽

Short Range ◽

Alloy 600 ◽

Lattice Contraction ◽

Short Range Ordering ◽

Mill Anneal ◽

Primary Water ◽

Kinetics Of

It has been proposed that a primary water stress corrosion cracking (PWSCC) in pressurized water reactor (PWR) is governed by a lattice contraction due to a short range ordering reaction in Alloy 600. This leads researcher to think that the kinetics of lattice contraction may control a susceptibility of PWSCC in Alloy 600. A lattice variation with ordering treatment at 400 <sup>o</sup>C was systematically investigated using high resolution neutron diffraction(HRPD) in high temperature mill anneal (HTMA), low temperature mill anneal (LTMA), and sensitized (SEN) Alloy 600. The results showed that ordering treatment caused an isotropic lattice contraction due to short range ordering (SRO) reaction. The lattice contractions of (111) plane are saturated to be 0.04% in 4 to 1500 hours at 400 <sup>o</sup>C according to prior treatment condition. The lattice contraction in the magnitude of 0.03% of (111) plane in LTMA Alloy 600 is faster by 8 times and 66 times than that of SEN and HTMA, respectively. This fact may explain why the LTMA is most susceptible to PWSCC through of kinetics of lattice contraction in Alloy 600. Thus, it is possible to conclude that the susceptibility of Alloy 600 to PWSCC is governed by the kinetics of (111) lattice contraction.

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