Influence of the residual stresses and strains generated by theat treatments on th hydrogen embrittlement of a nuclear reactor pressure vessel

  1. Toribio, J. 2
  2. Vergara, D. 2
  3. Lorenzo, M. 3
  4. Martin, J.J. 1
  1. 1 Dept. of Materials Eng, Univ. of Salamanca
  2. 2 Dept. of Materials Engineering, University of Salamanca
  3. 3 Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, University of Salamanca
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Journal:
The Proceedings of the International Conference on Nuclear Engineering (ICONE)

ISSN: 2424-2934

Year of publication: 2011

Volume: 2011.19

Issue: 19

Pages: 44017

Type: Article

DOI: 10.1299/JSMEICONE.2011.19._ICONE1944_10 GOOGLE SCHOLAR lock_openOpen access editor

More publications in: The Proceedings of the International Conference on Nuclear Engineering (ICONE)

Abstract

The wall of a nuclear reactor pressure vessel can undergo a reduction of its mechanical properties due to the presence of hydrogen, a process known as hydrogen embrittlement (HE). A numerical model of hydrogen diffusion assisted by stress and strain was used in this paper to evaluate the HE process in the wall of a real nuclear reactor pressure vessel, formed by a bi-material (stainless steel and low carbon steel). In this sense, a quantitative analysis was carried out of the influence of tempering heat treatments conditions applied to these two steels on hydrogen concentration accumulated in the nuclear reactor vessel during its operation time. To this end, the most relevant parameters of these heat treatments were considered: (i) tempering temperature and (ii) tempering time.