Integrated environmental degradation model for Fe-Ni-Cr alloys in irradiated aqueous solutions

An integrated model has been developed to evaluate the effect of reactor flux, fluence, and other operating conditions on crack growth rates in austenitic stainless steels in boiling water reactor (BWR) environments. The model evaluates the following in order to account for all factors affecting irradiation assisted stress corrosion cracking. *water chemistry including radiolysis and hydrogen injection *radiation induced segregation of the metal *radiation hardening of the metal *crack tip strain rate of a growing crack *dissolution rate at the crack tip following passive film rupture. The results of each of these models are combined to determine the crack advance rate for the given conditions. Environmentally assisted cracking (EAC) is a phenomenon where a combination of aggressive environment, susceptible material, and significant tensile stress result in accelerated degradation, including stress corrosion cracking (SCC), and hydrogen embrittlement. The EAC model is based on first principles electrochemistry and physical metallurgy. The effect of neutron and gamma radiation dose is included so that irradiation assisted stress corrosion cracking can be studied. By integrating the bulk chemistry with crack tip processes, the crack growth behavior of an aqueous system can be completely characterized. The model integrates chemistry and mechanical behavior to allow the study of EAC in general.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Nuclear Engineering

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

1999

Author dc:creator

• Pleune, Thomas Todd, 1974-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Ronald G. Ballinger.

• Nuclear Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/84224

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/84224