Insights on Creep Crack Growth Behaviors of Welded Joints of the Homologous Steel in Steam Generators
摘要
In recent years, the creep failure phenomenon of the sodium-cooled fast reactor steam generator components occurs frequently in high temperature and high pressure service environment. In order to ensure the safety and reliability of nuclear power plants in the service time, this paper investigated the creep crack growth properties of the homologous (P22) steel welded joints in sodium-cooled fast reactor steam generator. Main tests on the P22 welded joints contained hardness tests, creep crack growth tests, morphology observation of the welded joints and the creep fractures by the optical microscopy and the scanning electron microscope. Generally, there was an obvious hardness distribution across the whole welded joint. The hardness distribution of the BM and the WM was uniform while discrepancy occurred on the HAZ obviously. The maximum and minimum hardness respectively appeared in the WM and the BM. Through creep growth tests, the creep crack growth rate was HAZ > WM > BM, which resulted from the differences in microstructures. Due to the influence of the welding thermal cycle, the CGHAZ broke out the phenomenon of the dissolution of carbides and the formation of coarse austenite after recrystallization which reduced creep crack growth resistance. Besides, the microstructure of the FGHAZ was fine ferrite with granular bainite, which was prone to cause type IV cracks. The creep crack growth fractures were all distributed with dimples. Creep cavities could be observed in all specimens, which will expanded and connected to form the cracks.