Evaluation of stress corrosion cracking of irradiated 304L stainless steel in PWR environment using heavy ion irradiation

IASCC has been a major concern regarding the structural and functional integrity of core internals of PWR's, especially baffle-to-former bolts. Despite numerous studies over the past few decades, additional evaluation of the parameters influencing IASCC is still needed for an accurate understanding and modeling of this phenomenon. In this study, Fe irradiation at 450 °C was used to study the cracking susceptibility of 304 L austenitic stainless steel. After 10 MeV Fe irradiation to 5 dpa, irradiation-induced damage in the microstructure was characterized and quantified along with nano-hardness measurements. After 4% plastic strain in a PWR environment, quantitative information on the degree of strain localization, as determined by slip-line spacing, was obtained using SEM. Fe-irradiated material strained to 4% in a PWR environment exhibited crack initiation sites that were similar to those that occur in neutron- and proton-irradiated materials, which suggests that Fe irradiation may be a representative means for studying IASCC susceptibility. Fe-irradiated material subjected to 4% plastic strain in an inert argon environment did not exhibit any cracking, which suggests that localized deformation is not in itself sufficient for initiating cracking for the irradiation conditions used in this study.