Effect of dissolved gases on mechanical property of AISI 304 and 316 stainless steels under high temperature and pressure water

Takeuchi, Tomoaki   ; Nakano, Hiroko  ; Uehara, Toshiaki; Tsuchiya, Kunihiko 

Monitoring system of the nuclear power plants during a severe accident has increased in importance after the accident at the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant. As part of the system, the development of mineral insulated (MI) cables available under the normal and severe environments was started. In this study, in order to investigate mechanical integrity of MI cables in reactor coolant condition, effects of dissolved oxygen on fracture properties of the sheath materials of the MI cables in high temperature and pressure pure water were evaluated. As the sheath materials, AISI 304 and 316 stainless steels were selected and slow strain rate testing was performed at 510 mm/min in strain rate in pure water at 325C and 15 MPa. In both the cases of the 304 and 316 steel, from 8500 to 50 ppb dissolved oxygen (DO), fully ductile fracture surfaces were observed and tensile strength and breaking elongation were almost the same values. However, at 10 and 1 ppb DO, brittle fracture surfaces were observed around the outer edge of the samples, and the tensile strength and breaking elongation decreased. The results indicated the existence of a threshold level of DO for brittle fracture of both the steels at lower than 100 ppb.