Method of judging the acceptance for nickel base metal members for nuclear reactors

Purpose: To judge the acceptance standard for the reactor components made of precipitation hardening nickel based alloys from the metal texture thereof, as well as obtain those components more excellent in stress corrosion cracking resistance. Method: Based on the face that the acceptance of reactor components can be judged with ease by the primary recrystallized texture having more than 20 % of metal texture expressed in the area occupying ratio or the texture with crystal particles having more than 30 % of flattening coefficient, the performance for the stress corrosion cracking resistance is judged and the acceptance is determined from the metal texture in a case of checking the acceptance for the reactor components made of nickel based alloys containing more than 10 % by weight of chromium and also aluminum, titanium and niobium as the precipitation hardening elements. Since this enables to judge the stress corrosion cracking resistance of the reactor components at the instance of the acceptance test, the working life of the reactor is increased and thus the reliability thereof can be improved. (Yoshihara, H.)