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Residual stresses in reverse-bend test samples for stress-corrosion testing

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Abstract

Cracking of Inconel Alloy 600 (registered trademark) u-bend tubes used in pressure-water-reactor (PWR) steam generators has been a major concern in the nuclear-power industry over the past several years. The mechanism of cracking has been determined to be intergranular stress-corrosion cracking with residual stresses a major contributor. A simple specimen known as a reverse u-bend (RUB) has been used by a number of laboratories to simulate the high stresses and plastic strain extant in the most susceptible regions of the u-bend tubes. This paper presents the results of residual-stress measurements on four RUB samples, each from a different laboratory.

The results indicate that the individual RUB fabrication procedures used by different laboratories tend to produce different residual-stress patterns in the highly strained regions over 700 tensile to nearly 700-MPa compressive on different samples. Stress gradients on the order of 140 MPa/mm were found on some samples. The residual-stress patterns were seen to qualitatively predict the stress-corrosion-cracking pattern experienced on similar samples.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Materials Research Laboratory, The Pennsylvania State University, 159 MRL, 16802, University Park, PA

    C. O. Ruud (SEM Member), D. J. Snoha (SEM Member) & A. R. Mcllree (Project Manager)

Authors
  1. C. O. Ruud
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  2. D. J. Snoha
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  3. A. R. Mcllree
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Electric Power Research Institute.

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Ruud, C.O., Snoha, D.J. & Mcllree, A.R. Residual stresses in reverse-bend test samples for stress-corrosion testing. Experimental Mechanics 29, 54–57 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02327781

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02327781

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