Corrosion fatigue behavior of dissimilar metal weldments under nominal constant ΔK loading mode in a simulated BWR coolant environment

Corrosion fatigue behavior of the dissimilar metal weldment, Alloy 52-A508, under a simulated BWR coolant condition was studied. Corrosion fatigue crack growth rates of the dissimilar metal weldments were observed to increase with crack extension under the nominal constant ΔK loading mode. It could be accounted for by a decrease in the Cr and Ni contents and the crack closure effect with the weld depth. Finite element analysis on the welding residual stress was performed. The trend of analytical results agreed well with that of the residual stress measurements obtained by a hole-drilling strain gauge method.

► Corrosion fatigue crack growth rates were observed to increase with crack extension.
► The Cr and Ni contents and the crack closure effect decreased with the weld depth.
► The residual stresses of the as-welded weldment were higher than those of PWHT one.