Impact of localized deformation on IASCC in austenitic stainless steels

Localized deformation has been identified as a potential primary contributor to IASCC. Seven austenitic alloys were irradiated to 1 and 5 dpa at 360 °C using 2–3.2 MeV protons and were tested both in simulated BWR environment and in argon. Cracking susceptibility was evaluated at both 1% and 3% strain intervals using crack length per unit area. Stacking fault energy (SFE), hardness, radiation-induced segregation (RIS) and localized deformation were characterized and their correlations with cracking were evaluated using a proposed term, correlation strength. Both SFE and hardness contributed to cracking but neither was the dominant factor. RIS did not play an important role in this study. The correlation strength of localized deformation with IASCC was found to be significantly higher than for others parameters, implying that localized deformation is the most important factor in IASCC. Although not well understood, localized deformation may promote cracking through intensive interaction of dislocations in slip channels with grain boundaries.