Stress corrosion cracking of stainless steels under deaerated high-temperature water. Influence of grain boundary carbide precipitation, and effect of Mo and Cr in alloys

In order to evaluate the influence of grain boundary carbide on IGSCC susceptibility of stainless steel, crack growth rate tests were performed under deaerated or 0.3 ppm hydrogenated pure water environments at 320degC using half-inch compact tension (CT) specimens. In our previous report, CT testing showed that the susceptibility of CW316 to IGSCC was inhibited by the precipitation of grain boundary carbide under these environments. The result suggested quite different behavior from that in an oxygenated high-temperature water environment. In this study, the influence of (1) Mo and (2) Cr content in alloys, and (3) Cr depletion at the grain boundary on the IGSCC growth behavior in stainless steel was studied at 320degC under a 0.3-ppm hydrogenated pure-water environment. As a result, (1) IGSCC growth was observed on non-sensitized CW20%316, CW20%304, CW20%20Cr316, and CW20%20Cr304 under a 0.3-ppm hydrogenated pure-water environment at 320degC. (2) IGSCC growth was not observed for sensitized CW20%316 and CW20%304 (at 650degC x 48 or 24 h) and healing heat-treated CW20%316 (at 650degC x 48 h + 900degC x 0.5 h) under the same water environment. (3) The susceptibility of high Cr content materials (CW20%20Cr316 and CW20% 20Cr304) to IGSCC resistance was improved that of conventional CW316 and CW304 under the same water environment. The higher Cr content is effective in inhibiting susceptibility to IGSCC, but the inhibiting effect of Cr content is smaller than the effect of the grain boundary carbide. (4) These differences in IGSCC suggest that grain boundary carbide has a beneficial effect in improving IGSCC resistance, at least in a 0.3-ppm hydrogenated pure-water environment, despite the Mo content and Cr depletion at grain boundary. (author)