Swelling and Mechanical Property Changes in Russian and American Austenitic Steels in EBR-II and BN350

Material property data concerning the structural materials of EBR-II and BN350 have been compiled. The swelling formulations developed for Russian and American austenitic steels before reaching steady-state conditions are compared, and possible applications of the formulation for Russian steels to some compositionally similar American steels are discussed. The effects of slight composition and metallurgical condition differences on swelling can be used to explain the possible differences between the American steel data and the predictions for the corresponding Russian steel.Ultimate tensile strength and total elongation changes in Russian austenitic steels are correlated with swelling over a large swelling range (0 to 15%) and reveals total loss of ductility and strength as the amount of swelling reaches high values.Since austenitic steel is the main structural material of fast and light water reactors (LWRs) these findings can be applied to the LWR systems considering exposure temperature, dose rate, and neutron energy spectrum differences