Characterization of Damage During Low Cycle Fatigue of a 304L Austenitic Stainless Steel as a Function of Environment (Air, PWR Environment) and Surface Finish (Polished, Ground)

304L austenitic stainless steel is notably used to manufacture pipes in primary cooling circuits of nuclear power plants operating at a temperature close to 300°C in a specific aqueous environment. Customarily, pipes are roughly polished, however, after some interventions, a few zones might be ground. Start-ups, shutdowns and operating transients of the reactor produce Low Cycle Fatigue (LCF) loadings with different strain rates. These solicitations and the modified surface finish create specific conditions whose effects must be taken into account. In order to understand if there is a joint influence of the PWR environment and surface roughness on the successive stages of fatigue damage leading to failure, fatigue tests were conducted at 300°C under a total strain amplitude of ± 0.6%. Two environments were used, laboratory air and simulated PWR primary aqueous environment. Two surface finishes were investigated, namely fine mechanical polishing and grinding (Rt of about 40μm). The analysis of the damage process is based on data concerning crack density, crack length and striation spacing. The integration of the relation between the striation spacing and the strain intensity factor ΔKɛ, provides an estimation of crack propagation. It is confirmed that in PWR environment one striation can be considered as the crack advance during one fatigue cycle. Moreover, the specific crack front geometry observed in ground specimens and resulting from successive microcrack coalescences explains the reduction in fatigue life induced by grinding.