The safe-end dissimilar metal weld (DMW) joining the reactor pressure vessel to the main coolant piping is one of the most critical DMWs in a nuclear power plant (NPP). DMWs have varying microstructures at a short distance across the ferritic-austenitic fusion boundary (FB) region. This microstructural variation affects the mechanical properties and fracture behavior and may evolve as a result of thermal aging during long-term operation of an NPP. This paper presents microstructural characterization performed for as-manufactured and 5000 h and 10,000 h thermally aged narrow-gap DMW representing a safe-end DMW of a modern pressurized water reactor (PWR) NPP. The most significant result of the study is that the thermal aging leads to a significant decrease in a hardness gradient observed across the ferritic-austenitic FB of the as-manufactured DMW.
CITATION STYLE
Sarikka, T., Mouginot, R., Ahonen, M., Lindqvist, S., Ehrnstén, U., Nevasmaa, P., & Hänninen, H. (2019). Microstructural characterization of alloy 52 narrow-gap dissimilar metal weld after aging. In Minerals, Metals and Materials Series (pp. 1979–1993). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04639-2_134
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