Effects of water chemistry on intergranular cracking of irradiated austenitic stainless steels

To determine the effects of water chemistry on the susceptibility to irradiation-assisted stress corrosion cracking (IASCC) in austenitic stainless steels, constant-extension-rate tests were conducted in simulated BWR environments on several heats of high- and commercial-purity (HP and CP) Type 304 SS specimens from BWR components irradiated to fluences up to 2.4 x 1021 n cm-2 (E > 1 MeV). Effects of dissolved oxygen (DO) and electrochemical potential (ECP) in 289 C water were investigated. Dependence of susceptibility to intergranular stress corrosion cracking (IGSCC) on DO was somewhat different for the two materials. Susceptibility of the HP heats, less influenced by DO and ECP, was higher than that of CP material for all DO and fluence levels. Percent IGSCC in the CP material was negligible for DO < 0.01 ppm or ECP <-140 mV SHE. Results of analysis by Auger electron spectroscopy indicated that the HP neutron absorber tubes were characterized by relatively lower concentrations of Cr, Ni, and Li and relatively higher concentrations of F and N on grain boundaries than those of the CP materials. It is suggested that a synergism between irradiation-induced grain-boundary Cr depletion and fabrication-related fluorine contamination plays an important role in the stress corrosion cracking behavior of the HP neutron absorber tubes