The ageing kinetics of CF3 cast stainless steel in the temperature range 3000C to 400OC

The primary coolant pump casings for Sizewell 'B' are made from castings of ASME SA351 CF3 steel which, although predominantly austenitic, is required to contain a small proportion of ferrite. Previous studies have shown that such steels are susceptible to hardening of the ferrite, and associated losses in toughness, as a result of thermal ageing for long times at the service temperature (∼ 3000C). For this reason, toughness tests are to be carried out on representative castings made by the Sizewell 'B' pump casing manufacturer. The purpose of these tests is to demonstrate adequate end-of-life fracture resistance, using material which has been given an accelerated ageing treatment. The identification and validation of a suitable ageing treatment is the subject of this Report. Ageing kinetics have been measured for ageing temperatures in the range 300 to 4000C, from the results of Charpy impact tests on material from the castings procured for the main fracture programme. Castings with ferrite levels of 15, 25 and 35% have been studied. The losses in impact toughness have been related to the kinetics of ferrite strengthening using microhardness measurements, and to microstructural changes using Field Ion Atom Probe analysis. (author)