Creep properties of welded joints in OFHC copper for nuclear waste containment

In Sweden it has been suggested that copper canisters are used for containment of spent nuclear fuel. These canisters will be subjected to temperatures up to 100 degrees C and external pressures up to 15 MPa. Since the material is pure (OFHC) copper, creep properties must be considered when the canisters are dimensioned. The canisters are sealed by electron beam welding which will affect the creep properties. Literature data for copper - especially welded joints - at the temperatures of interest is very scare. Therefore uniaxial creep tests of parent metal, weld metal, and simulated HAZ structures have been performed at 110 degrees C. These tests revealed considerable differences in creep deformation and rupture strength. The weld metal showed creep rates and rupture times ten times higher and ten times shorter, respectively, than those of the parent metal. The simulated HAZ was equally strongen than the parent metal. These differences were to some extent verified by results from creep tests of cross-welded specimens which, however, showed even shorter rupture times. Constitutive equations were derived from the uniaxial test results. To check the applicability of these equations to multiaxial conditions, a few internal pressure creep tests of butt-welded tubes were performed. Attemps were made to simulate their creep behaviour by constitutive equations were used. These calculations failed due to too great differences in creep deformation behaviour across the welded joint. (authors)