Stress Corrosion Cracking Behavior of an Alloy 182-A533B Weld Joint with Continuous Material Properties

Primary loop recirculation (PLR) piping weld joints in light water reactor (LWR) environments are more susceptible to stress corrosion cracking (SCC). Limited experimental work also suggested the complicated material and mechanical property of the fusion zone and the heat affected zone (HAZ) especially in dissimilar weld joints might play an important role in promoting SCC growth. In our study, different from the former sandwich like weld joint, a model of continuous heterogeneity mechanical property was established, the effect of welded mechanical heterogeneity on the stress-strain field and J-integral along the crack fronts at different locations were simulated in an Alloy 182-A533B dissimilar weld joint by the elastic-plastic finite element method (EPFEM). The results indicate that the crack near the dividing line of base metal (BM) and HAZ has higher resistance to SCC. At the dividing line of HAZ and weld metal (WM), the crack is prone to propagate into the WM, and will present more complex crack morphology and behaviors.