Low temperature creep and stress corrosion cracking tests of rupture disk (Alloy600)

not registered; not registered; Yoshida, Eiichi; Aoto, Kazumi

The damage was observed in rupture disk for the A-loop superheater of sodium-water reaction products releasing system for MONJU on March 3, 1998. Low temperature creep and stress corrosion cracking tests were carried out as the causes investigation of the damage. As the result, the followings are clarified. (1)The possibility that low temperature creep is the principal damage is small. (2)The stress corrosion cracking under NaOH environment due to the reaction of Na vapor and moisture condensed on the surface of glass beads as remains is the most probable cause on the damage. (3)Comparatively many glass beads remained in damaged surface. The gap between rupture disk and vacuum support was narrower than other parts, and they were not directly exposed to the Na vapor for a long time. The above factors caused the perfect intergranular cracking by stress corrosion. Since NaOH was chemically changed into the harmless NaO on the location except for damaged zone by full Na vapor, the stress corrosion cracking was not generated.